Deal unlocks OOH media infrastructure leader’s European expansion amid surging digitisation 

Wildstone, the leading owner of outdoor media infrastructure across the UK and Europe, has completed a landmark £350 million infrastructure refinancing with Deutsche Bank as underwriter and MEAG, Lloyds, Natixis and M&G as mandated lead arrangers. 

The transaction enables Wildstone to both refinance its existing debt and fund its next stage of growth across the UK and Europe. The transaction also marks the first infrastructure debt raised in the Out-of-Home (OOH) sector, and is the first widely syndicated financing for Wildstone. 

Since 2010 Wildstone has established itself as a leader in OOH infrastructure by developing a portfolio of over 5,000 OOH assets across the UK, Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands and Germany. The new debt facility will enable Wildstone to further scale its portfolio in European markets and explore strategic opportunities to expand its global reach. 

Wildstone’s accelerating digital rollout puts the company at the forefront of the OOH sector’s digital revolution. The company leads the way with hundreds of traditional paper billboards converted to digital at a time of unprecedented digital OOH market growth: the global digital OOH market size is forecast to double from $23 billion today to $46b by 2029, expanding at a CAGR of 15.2%. In 2023 digital OOH was also forecast to grow faster than any other advertising channel, and at four times the rate of the paper OOH market. The new flexible debt facility will unlock Wildstone’s ability to further digitally enhance existing sites and invest in other capital upgrades across its portfolio. 

Damian Cox, CEO and Founder of Wildstone, commented:  

“Completing a refinancing of this magnitude in today’s market is testament to the quality of our estate, our people and most importantly our partner tenants. This industry-first debt facilitywill enable us to further expand our portfolio across Europe, aggressively scale our industry-transforming digitisation efforts and increase our operational flexibility.” 

About Wildstone 

Wildstone are Europe’s leading owner of outdoor media infrastructure. The company’s impressive portfolio of over 5,000 out of home media assets includes digital 48-sheet screens, classic paper and paste billboards, as well as super-premium digital sites. Wildstone buy and rent property sites for outdoor advertising across the UK and Europe.  

With over 13 years of experience within the industry, Wildstone are helping shape the future of the outdoor media market through the digitisation of out of home media assets.  

Wildstone provide high quality roadside media assets that stand the test of time. The company uses next generation LED screen technology for all their installations, delivering digital screens that are high quality, ultra lightweight and slim. 

For more information, please visit wildstone.co.uk. 

EV charging solution provider ChargeGuru today announced its merger with Zeplug, the leading operator of charging infrastructures in apartment and office buildings, to strengthen its position and create one of Europe’s largest EV charging providers with a focus on UK-wide expansion. 

ChargeGuru’s new Zeplug offering is designed to meet the growing demand for EV charging services with a solution specifically designed for apartment and office buildings. This innovative model, which includes financing of the shared charging infrastructure, as well as an end-to-end installation and maintenance service, has already been adopted by 15,000 buildings in France. This all-inclusive approach makes it easy for building owners, managers, and residents to make the switch to an electric vehicle.

Perfect Timing for the UK

As the UK gears up for the newly revised 2035 all-electric deadline, ChargeGuru UK’s Managing Director, Denis Watling, believes the new offering ensures that people who live in apartment buildings won’t get ‘left behind’ on the electrification journey. 

“Until now, the focus for home charging in the UK has been on those who live in a semi-detached or detached house, with a driveway. However, with roughly 22% of the population living in apartments, that’s over five million UK households who don’t currently have access to a transparent, hassle-free option for charging an EV privately at home. The launch of ChargeGuru’s Zeplug solution changes that completely, and perfectly aligns with our mission to make EV charging simple, for everyone.” 

The rapid evolution of the EV sector has seen a push for an increase in public chargers, which are often seen as the solution for those who can’t charge at home. The challenge is that charging on the public network can cost up to three times as much as charging at home. By offering a zero-cost option for landlords and property managers, ChargeGuru’s aim is to enable residents in apartment buildings to more easily & cost-effectively make the switch to electric between now and the 2035 deadline, by enabling them to charge at home.

European Backing to Help Lead the Electric Transition in the UK

ChargeGuru launched in the UK earlier this year and having already secured a number of automotive partnerships, are already providing charging solutions for home and business customers throughout the country.

To accelerate its growth in the UK and seven other European countries, the Group will use the €240m raised by Zeplug in 2022 from the infrastructure fund ICG (Intermediate Capital Group). The ambition is to install more than 100,000 charge points in Europe by 2025. The merger will also strengthen the existing partnerships with more than 20 carmakers across Europe including Volkswagen Group, Tesla, BMW, Ford, and Volvo.

According to ACEA, sales of electric vehicles rose by 21% in Europe in 2023 so far. The UK has seen an even bigger growth, with a year-on-year increase of 34.2% in battery electric vehicle sales to the end of October ’23. Against this favourable backdrop, the Group has serious ambitions for 2024 and beyond.

To achieve their goal, the two companies aim to draw on their synergies and complementary expertise.

“This merger positions us firmly as a true European leader in electric mobility. We are convinced that the complementary nature of our expertise, and the innovative power of our offering for condominiums and office buildings, will enable us to meet the growing demand for electric charging stations throughout Europe”, cofounder of Zeplug and ChargeGuru Gilles Gomis explains. 

“Zeplug has built a strong leadership in France thanks to this innovative cost-free offer specifically addressing the complexity of charging electric vehicles in residential and office buildings. The challenges are similar in all the countries we target across Europe, and we are excited to bring the Zeplug offer in these markets to provide customers with the adequate solution”, cofounder of Zeplug and ChargeGuru Nicolas Banchet adds.

Sirius Buying Group leading buying group in the electrical appliance and kitchen retail sector honour key players in the independent electrical retail industry at its annual Sirius Awards 2022, which took place at this year’s International Conference on the evening of 17^th May 2022. 

Steve Jones, Managing Director at Sirius Buying Group, says: “The Sirius Awards provide a platform for our Members and Approved Suppliers to be recognised amongst their peers. We are very proud of the domino effect that comes from having so many market leading brands who encourage and inspire us all to keep following our business goals and safeguard our market edge year on year. The decision process is always a difficult one as there are so many great initiatives and projects happening, but we feel that we are really showcasing the best of the best across seven major categories in the electrical retail sector.”

The results are now in and Sirius Buying Group has the pleasure to announce:

LARGE MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR

WINNER: WHIRLPOOL

HIGHLY COMMENDED: BSH

MEDIUM MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR

WINNER: CAPLE

HIGHLY COMMENDED: LIEBHERR

DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR

WINNER: D.A.D

HIGHLY COMMENDED: SWIFT

SDA SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR

WINNER: RKW

HIGHLY COMMENDED: CONNECT

LARGE RETAILER OF THE YEAR

WINNER: HUGHES

HIGHLY COMMENDED: CRAMPTON & MOORE

MEDIUM RETAILER OF THE YEAR

WINNER: HOSIES

HIGHLY COMMENDED: HORNSEY APPLIANCES

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE YEAR

IAN HEAVEN, D.A.D

As part of the 2022 Annual Conference, the Annual Gala Awards Dinner was a great evening and the Sirius management team commends the generosity shown at the Charity Auction. Donations from its Members and Suppliers helped the group raise £12,000 for Disasters Emergency Committee, with all monies going towards humanitarian aid in the current crisis taking place in Ukraine.

“Thank you to all in helping us raise money towards this worthwhile cause,” says Steve Jones, Managing Director at Sirius Buying Group. “I like to think that being generous with our time, money, knowledge and skills is a vehicle for us to keep showing up and raising our standards as leaders in our businesses and our industries to serve our communities going forwards.”

Property & Development Magazine | The Home of Residential Sector News

Proptech investment platform houzen‘s Founder & CEO, Saurabh Saxena, shares his thoughts…

Sustainable homes – From Greta to Glasgow, all eyes are on environmental issues. Currently underway, COP26 is expected to produce a string of commitments relating to reducing emissions, with 200 countries laying out their plans to do so by 2030.

The UK has already committed to a wide range of targets designed to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050. But organisations such as Extinction Rebellion say this isn’t enough, demanding the immediate cessation of the use of fossil fuels rather than a plan that spans decades. Insulate Britain, meanwhile, has resorted to headline-grabbing tactics over the last few weeks to flag up the direct impact that housing in the UK is having on emissions.

According to the Committee on Climate Change, housing is responsible for 14% of the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions. Poor insulation and gas-boiler heating systems are the main culprits – hence Insulate Britain’s demands for the government to insulate all social housing by 2025 and retrofit all homes in Britain to be low-energy and low-carbon by 2030.

So, what does all this mean for housing trends in 2022?

Clearly, heating will be a major issue for sustainable homes. The government’s long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy presented heat pumps as a key feature as they heat homes with warmth from the air, water or ground rather than using fossil fuels. The government has pledged to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028. In 2019, a total of 35,000 were installed (versus around 1.7 million gas boilers). In 2020, around 36,000 were installed – just 6% of the target.

Insulation, too, will be high up on the housing sector’s priority list. The Committee on Climate Change points out that insulation rates are currently around a third of what they need to be to cut energy consumption. The Green Homes Grant scheme launched in September 2020 to help people insulate their homes and introduce other energy-efficiency measures. However, it was scrapped in March 2021 after reaching just 6,000 of the 600,000 homes for which it was intended, with the National Audit Office accusing the government of botching its delivery. Apparently, a new scheme is to be launched. No details are available yet.

Of course, property isn’t just about residential houses. The Heat and Buildings Strategy applies to business premises too, and we can expect sectors such as Build to Rent and Purpose Built Student Accommodation to play their part as well, though many of these newer properties already perform better than older houses in terms of their energy-efficiency credentials. Homeowners, though, will be at its core, with legal commitments likely to be imposed to ensure that they make their homes more energy efficient.

What will homeowners be expected to do? Essentially, they are likely to need to insulate their homes and introduce low-carbon heating systems (heat pumps are one such example, as are biomass boilers). We’ve already seen a move towards this with the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regulation changes.

Currently, if you rent out a property, you need an EPC with a rating of ‘E’ or above. That is expected to change to ‘C’ or above for new tenancies from 2025 and to all tenancies from 2028. Any landlord found to be in breach of the requirement could be fined £30,000 per property. The change means that landlords of lower rated properties will need to make changes such as insulating them, installing double-glazed or triple-glazed windows and installing more energy efficient boilers, heat pumps or solar panels. At present, there are no plans to make financial support available to help landlords cover the cost of the required changes.

For newly built properties, the horizon is looking a little brighter. Major lenders are backing the green agenda, with momentum for this among both borrowers and lenders building, according to JLL. Aviva Investors, for example, is making £1 billion available over the next four years to lend for sustainable real estate. Globally, more than $700 billion of sustainable and green debt was issued in 2020.

All of this points to green thinking needing to be at the core of the property sector in 2022. Sustainable homes aren’t a ‘nice to have’ anymore. They are a key priority for homeowners, investors, developers and lenders alike.

Thankfully, technology is opening up the industry in terms of finding new solutions and innovative new ways to address property owners’ green needs. houzen’s sustainability reports are a key tool here. We’ve collected data about how properties across the country perform on 27 key issues impacting our climate. Homeowners can quickly and easily see how their properties compare. Then, thanks to our signature combination of AI and experts’ knowledge, they can receive an action-focused report that helps them move towards enhanced sustainability.

Happy property owners, happy planet.

To find out more, please visit www.houzen.co.uk.

Property & Development Magazine

Logan Energy create 100 new roles – Hydrogen technologies leader, Logan Energy, has unveiled plans to create up to 100 skilled new roles in Scotland as part of a strategic partnership with clean fuel specialist Element 2.

The initial 3-year partnership will see Logan Energy design, manufacture and maintain hydrogen refuelling stations on sites developed by Element 2 who plan to deploy over 800 pumps onto the UK network by 2027 and 2,000 by 2030. 

As the leading national provider of design and services for hydrogen refuelling development, the Scotland-based company was chosen for its strong track record in delivery. 

The partnership will triple Logan Energy’s current headcount, creating up to 70 new roles over the next two years with further positions to follow by 2025. 

Bill Ireland, CEO of Logan Energy, said: “This collaboration offers Logan Energy the opportunity to use its industry experience to deliver the widespread hydrogen infrastructure sorely needed across Scotland and the rest of the UK.

“Scotland has a long and successful relationship with hydrogen energy that is unparalleled. We have the expertise to deliver renewable technologies at pace and this programme will help create dozens more skilled opportunities for those looking to work in the hydrogen sector.

“Our partnership with Element 2 underlines our growth plans in the UK for the coming decade and will provide confidence for potential investors looking to support the drive to net zero.”

Tim Harper, CEO of Element 2, said: ”This collaborative partnership with Logan Energy is another step toward our goal of building the UK’s hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. We are a pure-play retailer of hydrogen, so harnessing Logan’s expertise and experience of refuelling systems supports our growth plan.

“Collaborations like this, ensure we remain ahead of schedule and ready to supply hydrogen as soon as demand arises. We are proud to support the UK’s net zero targets. More partnerships and further collaborations will follow in the coming weeks and months; this is an incredibly exciting time for the growth of hydrogen in the UK.”

News of the partnership comes following Logan Energy’s recent appointment of three industry-leading experts to its board, including former CEO of SSE Ian Marchant as chair. The appointments bolster the company’s executive team ahead of plans to increase international expansion.

Property & Development Magazine

The government is facing a major consumer backlash over its plans for the mass roll-out of heat pumps to replace gas boilers, according to a new report published today.

• Only 6% of consumers are willing to pay full £14,000 cost of heat pump installation
• 54% of consumers brand heat pump costs as ‘excessive’
• Fewer than half of consumers are willing to pay more than cost of a new boiler
• Only 4 in 10 are willing to put a hot water tank back into their property
• 73% want gas and electricity in the home for a choice of different heating appliances

Government heat pump roll-out: The new report, called Too Close to Home which has been published by the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), demonstrates that while consumers broadly support the government’s climate change efforts there are deep concerns about the associated costs and disruption to homes due to the installation of low carbon heating technologies.

With some low carbon technologies such as heat pumps costing between £8,000-£14,000, a huge 80% of people said that this was either too excessive and they couldn’t afford to pay (54%), or that they would pay it only with financial support (26%).

Mike Foster, Chief Executive at the EUA, says the consumer needs to be the focus of the government’s home decarbonisation efforts. “The key issue here is affordability. The British public wants to ‘do their bit’ to deal with climate change, but the potential cost of the heat pumps to replace boilers is regarded as excessive. For many consumers a new boiler costing circa £2,500 is a major expense, but the installation of a heat pump and associated equipment, such as hot water tanks, will dwarf this. Unless there is a rethink the government risks a consumer backlash that will have a major impact on our ability to hit the UK’s climate change targets.”

One potential solution to the government heat pump roll-out is to introduce a financing scheme to help pay for new home heating and hot water technologies. A combined 76% expected either a non-repayable grant for the full amount (40%), or a non-repayable grant for a proportion of the amount above the cost of a new boiler (36%).

Mr Foster continued: “The British public is sending a clear message that it cannot afford to install heat pumps and make all the surrounding alterations that need to be made, which could include insulation, water tanks and new radiators. Any government that attempts to force this through without significant financial support packages will be making a very brave, some would say reckless, decision. It is effectively the poll tax for heating.”

The report also makes clear that consumer choice in terms of energy sources is vitally important. 73% of consumers said it is important to keep both gas and electricity connected to their home, despite current government plans to ban all gas boilers by 2035. Gas is also currently the most popular fuel for heating, hot water and cooking in UK homes with more 21 million households on the mains gas network. Consumers welcomed initiatives such as hydrogen boilers, with 72% supporting efforts of UK manufacturers to develop low carbon gas boilers.

“It is clear that the consumer wants to retain a form of gas heating, such as hydrogen, delivered to them through the existing gas network. It is vital we give consumers a choice and avoid imposing decisions upon them. Heat pumps will be the choice for some, but others will not accept the cost and the disruption to their homes. I would urge the government to open their minds to a hydrogen future for heat, or their voters will want to see the government open their cheque books and pay the costs of net zero.”

To view the full the full report, visit: https://eua.org.uk/too-close-to-home/

Property & Development Magazine