Ashley House PLC Financial Close Scarborough Extra Care (6115G)

TIDMASH

RNS Number : 6115G

Ashley House PLC

05 March 2018

5 March 2018

Ashley House plc (the "Company")

Financial Close Scarborough Extra Care

Ashley House plc ("Ashley House" or the "Company") the health and community care property partner is delighted to announce that it has reached financial close on its extra care Housing development in Scarborough.

The facility, a community wellbeing scheme, will have 63 apartments plus communal areas to provide much needed purpose built accommodation for older local residents who have care needs. The scheme, which has a gross development value in the region of GBP10m will be owned and managed by Home Group, one of the UK's largest Housing Associations. Ashley House and Home Group are working alongside North Yorkshire County Council and Scarborough Borough Council to deliver the scheme, which is also grant funded by Homes England.

This important financial close means that Home Group has acquired the relevant part of the site from Ashley House and a development agreement is in place allowing construction to commence. Practical completion is expected to be achieved in Spring 2019.

The development is being built on part of a site already owned by Ashley House, with residual plots allocated for a housing development and a health scheme expected in due course.

As it was so far advanced, this development sits outside of the Joint Venture Morgan Ashley, which was established just before Christmas and consequently all revenue and profit on this scheme will accrue to Ashley House. An initial payment has been made to Ashley House on financial close. The scheme is Ashley House's first to reach financial close since the Government relaxed its plans to cap housing benefit to Local Housing Allowance and is a strong indicator of the ability to unlock the value in the Morgan Ashley pipeline in the coming months.

Commenting on the financial close, Antony Walters, Chief Executive said "This important development is a key milestone in our programme of schemes closures. I look forward to see the scheme develop through the construction phase to provide much needed accommodation for the residents of Scarborough".

Rachael Byrne, Executive Director of New Models of Care at Home Group said: "We're delighted to announce this scheme, which will provide a Community Wellbeing Scheme for older people in the Scarborough area. The scheme is very much a joint partnership between Scarborough Borough Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Ashley House and Home Group. Customers will have access to the flexible care they need in their homes, and a range of wellbeing services on site. This is being supported through funding from Homes England, meeting the critical agenda of delivering new homes for our ageing population."

Enquiries:

Ashley House plc 01628 600 340

Antony Walters

Jonathan Holmes

WH Ireland 0207 220 1666

(Nominated Adviser and broker to Ashley House plc)

Adrian Hadden

Ed Allsopp

James Sinclair-Ford

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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March 05, 2018 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)