A property company has clarified its relationship with a Dubai based Liverpool businessman.
The Sourced Development Group is behind plans to build hundreds of apartments on land off Blackstock Street on the edge of the city centre. The initial scheme marketed by the company was to build nearly 452 units, however this was later revised to a 310 unit scheme.
An ECHO investigation recently revealed how Sourced sold hundreds of units in the scheme before the Section 106 agreement was signed. This stipulates how much money the developer pays to help the local community.
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The Widnes based company said it had taken around £7m from investors on the scheme so far and had so far returned a deposit to one investor who chose to exit the scheme.
The company added that only a small number of buyers had declined to continue with the scheme, of who most had been refunded, and some had chosen to move over to the company's nearby Westminster Park scheme. Those buyers who are exiting had been assured they would be refunded on or before December 15, 2022, it said.
Sourced is also behind a large scale scheme on the edge of Manchester city centre where the company intends to complete a 525 apartment scheme that has secured over £15m from investors.
Emails from Sourced executives were recently leaked to the ECHO which revealed Liverpool man Ian Ringwood was involved in the Regent Plaza site in Salford.
One email from Mr Ringwood to Sourced executives read: "Neil has confirmed Thursday at our offices in Widnes can you confirm the best time for you and Les to attend."
The email, from August this year, was signed off by Ian J Ringwood of Dubai based company Pro Consult.
Mr Ringwood was also copied into other emails from Sourced executives.
A spokesperson for Sourced said Mr Ringwood is a consultant who works with a range of companies across the property sector in the UK and UAE.
The spokesperson said Mr Ringwood has over 15 years experience of joint ventures and land sourcing. The spokesperson said Mr Ringwood was 'not a director or employee of Sourced'. The spokesperson added that Mr Ringwood splits him time between Dubai and the UK.
Mr Ringwood is not listed as a director of Sourced on Companies House and is not mentioned on the company's website. A spokesperson for Sourced added: "Pro Consult and Tetratech are overseeing the project as contract managers on behalf of Source Group Developments and that Pro Consult provide an end-to-end service for the client to manage the construction aspects of the project."
Earlier this month a spokesperson for Sourced said the company was intent on delivering the scheme at Regent Plaza.
A spokesperson for SDG said: "We purchased the site in July 2019 for £13,750.00 with our own funds. We had started on site and are self delivering through Sourced Construction Group as the principal contractor.
"We have completed Block B internally and this is set for handover in January 2023. This has been delayed due to the brick slips being delivered from Germany and supply chain issues.
"The original construction dates were pushed back because of the global pandemic. We got back on site as soon as practically able and with many industry leaders falling into financial ruin we have continued to fund the development without development finance and the progress has been steady.
"Groundworks are being carried out around the area of block B in readiness for handover to tenants in January whilst there have been over 100 men on site at various times as the trades are now complete internally there is only the groundworks package and brick slips to go on block B so this is not required.
"Block C is having the SFS ( steel framing systems) and lift shafts worked on at the moment and mast climbers will be installed within the next coming weeks as have been awaiting climber the bases to go in, all progress is noted on Instagram and monthly construction reports are issued to all purchasers."
"The internal works of block B are completed and fully commissioned, tested. There are now only external groundworks (landscaping and paving) and brick slips to be finalised on Block B."
"Accordingly, hundreds of workers are not required at this stage of the phased development, but there have been, and will continue to be, various stages when a large subcontractor presence is required in line with the JCT.
"All purchasers are kept fully informed of the construction progress via monthly reports and the public at large has access to social media accounts and the website which also detail the stages and progress of construction.
"The development is delayed but there are no underhand reasons for this – namely the pandemic, delays in supplied, the principal contractor going bust. SDG are a small company and are self-financing most of this work."
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