Below are the answers to questions frequently asked about National Grid Property.
If you have a site specific query please contact one of our communication centres.
National Grid Property is the property arm of National Grid, formed in the autumn of 2002 from the merger of Lattice Group and National Grid Group. National Grid Property's role is to manage the company's extensive non-operational property portfolio, provide strategic advice on all property issues, and to seek out opportunities to create value through effective portfolio management.
National Grid Property is part of National Grid, which was formed following the merger of Lattice Group and National Grid in October 2002 and comprises the property assets of what was British Gas. National Grid Property succeeded BG Property and Lattice Property.
The portfolio (not including operational land owned by National Grid) is spread across approximately 660 sites housing an estimated 1450 buildings, including shops, offices, depots and land. Around 80% of these are former gaswork sites. The portfolio covers 4,300 acres of land of which a high proportion is potentially contaminated as a result of the historic manufacture of gas.
Gas has greatly improved the quality of people's lives by providing an efficient and clean fuel for cooking, heating and lighting. Prior to the switch over to natural gas in the late 60s/early 70s gas was manufactured from oil and coal at a network of urban sites across the country. Although it wasn't realised at time, in common with many other former industrial processes, the manufacture of town gas was not without an environmental cost. National Grid Property is now confronting this legacy.
National Grid Property's clean up programme is one of the largest in the country, over 190 projects have already been completed at a cost in excess of £200 million.
Despite one of the largest clean up programmes in the country, with around 800 former gasworks to reclaim, not all sites could be cleaned up at once. National Grid Property therefore sets its priorities with care, dealing with sites in order of environmental needs whilst delivering sites for future beneficial use.
Each site is different. Contamination is a catch-all phrase covering any material that isn't naturally occurring. It covers, for example, concrete foundations from former buildings. It might also include tars and spent oxides. It may even include traces of complex substances such as arsenic, but such things are buried in the soil, not lying on the surface. To put things in perspective there are far more dangerous chemicals in most people's garages, or even under their kitchen sink, such as bleach and oven cleaner. Handled sensibly they pose no threat.
Our sites pose little risk to the public, neighbouring properties or the environment. They are well secured and carefully monitored by the Environment Agency and local Environmental Health Officers, with whom clean up strategies are agreed in advance. Clean up is always in accordance with government guidelines to meet the requirements for the proposed end use for the land.
There no secrecy about National Grid Property sites. Local people are kept informed of specific site plans through mailshots and, where appropriate, public exhibitions. National Grid Property maintains regular contact with the Environment Agency and local Environmental Health Officers with whom clean up strategies are agreed in advance and in detail.
National Grid Property is widely regarded as an innovator and a leader in the use of on-site solutions for cleaning up contaminated land. More than 50% of clean up costs are related to off-site disposal. National Grid is therefore absolutely committed to developing, validating and utilising new technologies to enable land to be cleaned up on site, and recovered materials to be recycled. Such technologies include bioremediation, soil washing and vapour extraction. In many cases, for a variety reasons, these new technologies do not offer viable clean up options, but where practical they will be used.
The site on which the Millennium Dome now stands is a former gasworks. National Grid Property oversaw, and paid for, the statutory clean up of the site from 1996-1997. In March 1997, at the Government's request, National Grid Property sold it to the urban regeneration agency, English Partnerships for £20 million (plus 7.5 per cent of the potential land value from any resale).
The Dome occupies only a third of the gasworks site with the rest being reclaimed to provide new homes, shops, leisure facilities, jobs and public open space for the local community. So, whatever your views of the Dome itself, the regeneration of the Greenwich peninsula is a flagship for urban regeneration.
National Grid Property was not a sponsor of the Dome. Its contribution was to the reclamation and regeneration of the site as a whole. This comprised the cost of cleaning up the site, a contribution to the new Jubilee line station, and other project management costs - reported as being equivalent in total to £50 million.
National Grid Property is following a systematic approach to disposal to ensure that the portfolio realises its full value and potential. The aim is to ensure that, over time, sales generate enough cash to pay for the clean up of all National Grid's sites. Whether or not National Grid Property makes a surplus on the disposal of its portfolio will depend, in part, on the property market cycle.