EL CONTROL DEMOGRAFICO EN LAS NACIONES EN VÍAS DE

5.2.1 The right structure

5.2.2 Liabilities, legal structures and powers

Managing assets is a complex and sometimes daunting issue and requires an understanding of the variety of management structures available. Selecting the right management regime is key to creating a successful place. Having considered at the earliest possible opportunity who will manage which assets, it is important to decide on a management structure that meets the objectives of the agreed body and the aspirations for the place. The type of project will always define the legal structure.

Consideration should also be given to the impact a management structure will have on how a community works. A single structure with a standard level of service across all tenures can promote successful integration.

5.2.1 The right structure

Select a management structure that suits your

neighbourhood. There are many different management structures that can be used to achieve similar results. No one structure fits a specific model or project. In deciding on the most appropriate legal structure to manage assets, organisations should evaluate matters set out below. In large-scale or more complex projects it may be appropriate to combine a number of different legal structures.

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What is the management structure intended to achieve? Large schemes and the management of assets into perpetuity can be particularly complex. In some cases, the structure will need to encompass wider activities than simply management. For example, some such structures facilitate matters such as community engagement or community projects and may carry potential liabilities.

Involvement of parties

Who will be involved, and how? Are there skills available to run a management option? How will they be engaged? Will there be a requirement for additional stakeholders to join later, as other elements or phases come on stream?

Decision making

How will decisions be made? In standard management companies set up by developers, shares may pass to occupiers but their voting may not be enfranchised until a trigger is met (for example when 75 per cent of the estate has been sold or let). This can allow developers to influence or control voting while they still hold a financial interest.

Land transfers

Will the management structure enable an active interest in development (whether freehold or leasehold), or will it simply provide services to the landlord? For complex schemes involving the continuing management of assets, the timing of any land transfer will be critical. It will be necessary to consider issues relating to values and to the amount of control that is required during the development period.

Liabilities

What liabilities will the management structure need to consider? For example, there might be statutory liabilities such as leasehold rights or service charges that need to be built into the structure. Have these been budgeted for?

Funding

How will the management of activities be funded? A management structure may be subject to challenge if it wants to make a service charge to provide contingence for future liabilities. It may be possible to impose charges on freehold and leasehold interests, but they are limited in relation to the sums that can be recovered.

Enforcement

How will the structure seek to enforce any rights?

Exit

How will the exit arrangements work, and what will the timing be? Often developers or landowners will want to exit the structure at a particular point in time, when they are certain it is capable of going forward robustly or development has hit a certain trigger.

At Pepys Estate in Lewisham, the local community has been at the forefront of the regeneration process, influencing key decisions and beginning to get involved in the long-term management of assets, to change an area that has suffered from long-term underinvestment. In 1997 Pepys Estate residents got together to find ways to improve the quality of life and services, leading to the formation of the Pepys Community Forum in 1998. It put its own community regeneration bid together, via Lewisham Council. The revenue part of the bid was successful and provided funding to deliver community-based services and a Community Development Trust. An umbrella body, with the legal, constitutional and democratic framework, the Community Development Trust is designed to enable local residents to set up, manage and develop their own

The Pepys Community Forum worked with the local authority to secure funding for a Community Development Trust that enables them to manage and develop their own services and resources. Projects include education and programs, an architectural competition and the delivery of a community centre.

services and resources in the area and act as a lever for bringing new money into the area. The Trust is designed to out-live any other funding regime.

The community’s appreciation of existing large open spaces and insistence for these to be retained influenced the layout and design of new buildings in the reconstruction proposals generated by an architectural competition. The Pepys Estate Community Forum has initiated educational and training programmes for the community and also delivered key social support for refugee communities and the most disadvantaged. It supported and strengthened existing amenities such as the Pepys 2000 Community Action Centre and the Riverside Youth Club. It has also supported environmental aspirations and runs a food waste recycling project, one of only a handful of such community initiatives in London.

MANAGING QUALITY PLACES 5.2

Established by the Cadbury brothers in 1900, Bournville Village Trust (BVT) today develops and administers 1,000 acres, providing homes for 25,000 people. It includes an exceptionally wide range of housing provision, especially new housing with particular emphasis on quality, energy saving, regeneration, special needs and housing for people with disabilities.

BVT’s core activities include:

• Management of the Bournville Estate which in total comprises over 7,500 properties and various community facilities

• Management of around 600 properties in other areas of Birmingham, Telford (including Lightmoor) and Redditch • Provision of architectural management and maintenance services to a number of housing associations and other organisations

Establishing a trust