Families who cycle through the car-free woodland of Center Parcs Woburn Forest may not appreciate quite how much went on behind the scenes to create the leafy holiday village.
Getting planning permission for the new site was a difficult process. Center Parcs chief executive Martin Dalby describes the decade-long process as “quite elongated and quite challenging.”
In 2006 the local council refused permission for the project – on a site which was previously used for commercial forestry – but Center Parcs appealed against that decision. The company argued successfully that it would bring a major boost to the economy of the local area, and underlined the environmental credentials of its project.
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As well as creating 1,200 temporary jobs during construction, the site employs some 1,500 people – and Dalby says 75% of them live just 15 minutes away. Recommending the plan, Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce said the park meant “local people will have money in their pockets”.
Woburn Forest was designed with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability – and the finished resort has a team of 18 rangers, charged with enhancing the biodiversity of the surrounding woodland and protecting the habitats of the animals which live there.
“Sustainability in terms of our business is very, very important to Center Parcs,” says Dalby.
One of the unexpected consequences of the firm’s commitment to sustainability is that Center Parcs Woburn Forest now operates as a hedgehog release site. In May 2018, eight young hedgehogs were returned to nature there after months in a hedgehog hospital.
Funding a £250m construction project
When the park finally opened in June 2014, it had cost £250m to build and was, says the firm, probably the biggest leisure construction project in the UK for a decade, with the sole exception of the 2012 London Olympics.
Even after the protracted planning phase, the building work itself took two years – and Barclays was with Center Parcs throughout.
Dalby praises Mike Delay, the relationship director from Barclays Corporate Banking’s hospitality and leisure team, who leads the relationship with Center Parcs. “Like all relationships between companies, it’s about the people,” he says. “Our relationship director [Delay] has dedicated a huge amount of time to really get to understand the business of Center Parcs. He’s there at the end of the phone and he comes out on site visits.
“He’s been extremely supportive. He’s been very clever in the way he’s helped us construct the financing of this actual project.”
A new resort in Ireland
Nor is Woburn Forest the end of the relationship between Barclays and Center Parcs. In December last year, the bank confirmed it was arranging a €165m (£145m) financing facility for a 400-acre resort in County Longford, Ireland. The facility is being provided by Barclays, HSBC and RBS.
Delay said the bank is committed to the company’s growth: “We have a strong and long-standing relationship with the Center Parcs UK business, and for Barclays to support the next stage of its evolution through structuring the funding of this deal in Ireland was an obvious fit.
“Not only does this underline our ongoing commitment to our hospitality and leisure clients in the UK, but also demonstrates our ability to help them realise their ambitions to grow overseas too.”
Dalby echoes the sentiment. “Our relationship with Barclays is a real, genuine partnership,” he says. “I think it’s based on trust. It’s based on understanding. It’s based on the knowledge that both businesses have of each other.”
Find out how Barclays Corporate Banking’s industry experts are supporting clients to achieve their ambitions at barclayscorporate.com
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