BexleyCo is a new Development Company formed by the London Borough of Bexley.

Its primary objective is to support the Council in delivering its Growth Strategy.

About BexleyCo

The London Borough of Bexley has a proud history at the heart of the capital’s evolution and gateway to Kent. With London’s growth moving outwards, the borough is entering an exciting new period and the Council has published ambitious plans to harness the benefits of good growth for existing and new residents and businesses.

This includes regeneration, primarily along the River Thames, to create 31,000 homes and 17,500 jobs with new infrastructure including an extended Elizabeth Line from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet. The area has the potential to be an exemplar, 21st century suburb.

London’s economy continues to grow, with much of that growth now moving outwards, especially to the east of the capital. The London Borough of Bexley is seeking to capture and manage that growth and the opportunities it creates. The implementation of the Council’s Growth Strategy will be a core activity for BexleyCo over coming years, in particular regeneration along Bexley’s Riverside supported by new infrastructure.

BexleyCo activities

BexleyCo will undertake development activities in four core areas:

Housing

It is proposed that BexleyCo will invest and deliver 2,500 homes in the borough over the next 15 years which potentially could lead to further development opportunities for housing.

Employment (Offices & Retail)

It is proposed that BexleyCo will invest and deliver 5,000sqm employment of space (offices and retail) in the borough over the next 15 years which potentially could provide up to 600 new jobs

Commercial

It is proposed that BexleyCo will invest and deliver 20,000sqm industrial (logistics and warehousing) developments in the borough over the next 15 years which potentially could provide up to 1000 new jobs.

Infrastructure

It is proposed that BexleyCo will commit to improvements to connectivity and accessibility benefits, new power capacity and heat energy for the use and benefit of local homes and businesses; and explore better utilisation of the river by business, industry, leisure and tourism and the creation and augmentation of communities, through housing and open spaces.

£600 million investment

Over the next fifteen years the Company anticipates it will invest over £600m in helping the borough grow sustainably. This includes developing at pace an initial phase of sites to provide over 600 quality homes. It will build a pipeline over the next 15 years through negotiating major joint ventures. It will aim to deliver 35 per cent genuinely affordable housing and a long-term private rental portfolio and to support local residents and key workers.

BexleyCo’s contribution will extend far beyond these numbers. The company will be driven by a strong ethos to deliver quality development, great design, enhanced landscape and place. It will look to support local jobs, the wider skills agenda and will actively engage with communities.

Many of our schemes are located in strategically important places such as Felixstowe Road, Abbey Wood, opposite the new Crossrail station and gateway to Peabody’s Housing Zone. Furthermore BexleyCo will explore the development of employment sites to create new opportunities and support economic development, together with the provision of new community facilities, including education and health care.

Over the Business Plan period BexleyCo will work to achieve commercial returns on investments minimum and provide a significant contribution in the context of local government self-financing and balanced alongside its wider social and economic contributions.

BexleyCo Board

Graham Ward

Graham Ward
Interim Managing Director, BexleyCo London

Graham has over 25 years’ experience in the private and public sector and has been with BexleyCo since it was set up by the London Borough of Bexley in 2017. He has extensive senior management experience delivering major projects, programmes and services.

He has been instrumental in setting up the company, bringing forward the first phase of development sites and securing investment funding and land from the Council.

His aim is to work with the Chairman, Board and Shareholder to deliver on BexleyCo’s objectives.

Michael Hill

Michael Hill
BA Hons
Interim Chairman, BexleyCo London

Michael has more than forty years’ experience in housing led regeneration , primarily in London. He was Housing Development Surveyor at the London Docklands Development Corporation between 1981 and 1983 with responsibility for kick starting the housing for sale programme . He then joined one of the UKs leading housebuilders, Countryside, where he worked for nearly 35 years before retiring in 2017. He was initially responsible for the development management of a varied programme in London, Kent and Essex before setting up a Partnerships and Urban Renewal Team. This led to the establishment of a new Partnerships Division in 1992 .Michael was appointed New Business Director, a position he then held until 2016 when he was appointed Business Strategy Director.

Following his retirement from Countryside Michael was invited to become a Non Executive Director at Broadway Living, the wholly owned development company of Ealing Council, and BexleyCo.

Mike Ellsmore

Mike Ellsmore
BSC, FCPFA
Non-Executive Director, BexleyCo London

Until his retirement in September 2014, Mike was Director of Finance and Resources at London Borough of Bexley, where he had spent most of his career. Whilst at Bexley, Mike undertook the project director role on two major Leisure and Schools projects with a capital spend of £60m.

Since retiring Mike has been appointed as independent chair of the Local Pension Boards at the London Boroughs of Croydon, Southwark and Sutton. He is also Chair of CIPFA’S Pensions Panel.

He is a trustee of Centrepieces, a Bexley based mental health charity, and is Director of Faversham Pools, a registered charity.

Mike is a qualified accountant and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. He has lived in Bexley since 1976 , and knows the borough well.

Paul Moore

Paul Moore
Non-Executive Director, BexleyCo London

Paul returned to Bexley in 2009, initially working as Programme Director on the Bexley First programme, which consolidated 1300 Council staff and Partners onto the refurbished former Woolwich Equitable site at 2 Watling Street. As well as halving estate costs, Bexley First also released land for around 1,500 homes.

Since 2014 Paul has served as Director of Place, Communities and Infrastructure, most recently working to help position Bexley’s case for extending Crossrail to Ebbsfleet, which would enable three further Crossrail stations across the north of the Borough – Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green.

Stuart Rowbotham

Stuart Rowbotham
Non-Executive Director, BexleyCo London