Red Loft have been working with Braintree District Council for over four years to generate and deliver its ambitious £100+ million capital investment programme, which includes a diverse range of projects, including residential sites, primary healthcare facilities, enterprise centres and commercial investments.

Our support is both at the strategic and the project level providing the professional expertise to procure and to oversee construction activity and deliver innovative exciting capital projects.

Highlights include:

Horizon120

Horizon120 is an exemplar business park for the region providing in excess of 750,000sq ft of hi-tech industrial, office and logistics space, set in extensively landscaped grounds overlooking the country park. Our role included; the acquisition of a sixty-five-acre employment site, the development of the business case approved by Cabinet, helping draft the Council’s first Local Development Order based upon an exemplar Design Code with a particular emphasis on biodiversity, sustainability, and design excellence, project management of the delivery of infrastructure – roads, utilities, and ultra-high-performance fibre optic, branding and marketing in partnership with a commercial developer, project management to facilitate delivery of the UK’s first fully electric vehicle forecourt and working with Essex County Council on proposals for digitally managed, demand responsive public transport service utilising an electric vehicle fleet.

We also project managed the delivery of The Plaza, an enterprise centre for a community of innovators and like-minded businesses. Offering workspaces for start-ups, scale-ups, small businesses and entrepreneurs. Plus, a range of bookable meeting and seminar rooms, conference and event spaces with ultra-modern presentation technology, as well as a coffee shop on the ground floor.

Learn more about Horizon120 and Red Loft's role by watching the video below.

Manor Street, Braintree

Manor Street is a £30 million project comprising thirty-five apartments, a seventy-bed budget hotel, primary health care, restaurant, retail units, a new bus interchange and new high-quality public open space which links the new buildings to Braintree’s historic high street an knits the whole project together. Red Loft carried out an urgent review of the business case and options appraisal following tender returns as costs had escalated. We then undertook a robust value engineering exercise to arrive at a viable project without compromising quality. We also negotiated a bulk sale of thirty-five apartments to a local Registered provider as well as the marketing of the commercial units. This included a Livewell Hub providing 20,000 residents with access to better health services.

I-Construct

This is an ERDF funded enterprise centre to promote innovation in the construction sector by providing specialist support and services to SMEs. We project managed this development ensuring a BREEAM excellent building was produced using structural insulated panel technology. This two-storey hub consists of workshop and demonstration spaces, a technology lab and conference facilities. It’s now delivering one-to-one mentoring, grant schemes and advice to small and medium sized firms connected to the construction industry.

Enterprise Centres

We are looking at further centres across the district through working with planning colleagues to secure land and financial contributions via S106 Agreements, market research to confirm demand and to learn from other’s experience and we have carried out feasibility studies to provide managed workspaces and small industrial units for local SMEs.

Strategic advice for North Essex Garden Communities

We were commissioned by Braintree to review the North Essex Garden Community (NEGC) proposal. Our review covered: governance, financial modelling, challenging the NEGC business case, with particularly focussing on accountability, financial and political risk.

If you think you could benefit from the skills and expertise that Red Loft can provide when seeing commercial developments realised then get in touch with our Management Team to discuss further.