Strategic disposal of a surplus school site, achieving a £5.2m+ sale through targeted marketing, tendering and negotiation.
Client profile
Our client, a religious charity, owned a former primary school that had become surplus to operational requirements. The vacant freehold property no longer formed part of the organisation’s long-term portfolio strategy, creating an opportunity to realise capital value from a non-core asset.
Services provided
Property overview
The property comprised a vacant former school located within a major regeneration area in South London. The site’s future value was closely linked to existing use and redevelopment potential, but planning considerations, site constraints and wider stakeholder interests created complexity that required careful management throughout the disposal process and careful consideration of the appropriate route to market.
Our role
FFT provided agency advice and coordinated planning and valuation input, assisting the client assess disposal options and determine the most appropriate route to market.
Following a review of the opportunity, we recommended a targeted informal tender process. We prepared sales particulars, coordinated due diligence information, managed purchaser enquiries and viewings, and negotiated with shortlisted bidders through to agreement of Heads of Terms, liaison with solicitors, regarding the sale contract particularly relating to overage, leading to exchange of contracts and completion.
Disposal strategy
The site attracted interest from a range of purchasers with differing acquisition strategies and approaches to use, development and value. The objective was not simply to achieve the highest offer, but to identify the proposal that provided the strongest combination of value, certainty and deliverability. Planning considerations, site conditions and transaction risk all formed part of the assessment process.
FFT developed a targeted marketing strategy, approaching selected developers, investors and specialist purchasers with known interest in opportunities of this nature. Competitive bidding and detailed offer evaluation enabled the client to understand the relative strengths and risks of each proposal before progressing negotiations.
Transaction management
Throughout the disposal process, FFT provided commercially focused advice on both conditional and unconditional offers, supported negotiations with preferred bidders, and guided the client through the agreement of commercial terms and transaction documentation.
The outcome
The informal tender process generated multiple competitive offers and secured a successful sale valued at more than £5.2 million.
The disposal transformed a vacant, non-core property into a significant capital receipt, providing the client with an efficient route to sale and certainty of outcome while maximising market interest in the opportunity.
We then delivered the property sale in accordance with our recommended marketing strategy through extensive marketing, with a successful disposal optimising sale proceeds of £6.5m + for the client to reinvest in its core business.