“This isn’t a U-turn, Ozouf made a mistake” - Minister

Tuesday 02 June 2015

Commitments given last year that the Waterfront office development would not go ahead until tenants had been found for 200,000 square feet of offices were a simple mistake, says the Treasury Minister.

Senator Alan Maclean says that the promise was made in error – and that there’s no reason why the development can’t start now that UBS have signed up to take on part of the first of a planned six office blocks.

Last year, his predecessor Senator Philip Ozouf restated a commitment that the tenant threshold would have to be reached before work could begin. But Senator Maclean says that he’s looked back at the Hansard transcript and that it’s clear that Senator Ozouf got it wrong because the stipulation about 200,000 square feet of leases was part of an earlier, cancelled deal with the previous developers Harcourt.

He said: “The only conclusion that I can reach is that Senator Ozouf made a mistake. It clearly was not the case and has not been the case for some time.

“That commitment related to the previous arrangement with Harcourt.

“I am afraid that what was said unfortunately by Senator Ozouf last year was an error. It was a mistake. This has nothing to do with a u-turn.”

On Friday, it was announced that after years of delays and missed deadlines, work on the Waterfront finance centre was finally due to start after UBS signed a lease for the first of a planned six buildings. Local firm Camerons are due to construct the building, which will house UBS’s 200 staff.

But last year States Members and the public were told that work would only start when 200,000 square feet of offices – the equivalent of almost two entire buildings of the six-block development – had been signed up by tenants in secure contracts.

That commitment was originally given in 2009, but was repeated in February 2014 – six months before the last election.

In an exchange in the States, Deputy John Le Fondre said: “Previously in a statement to the Assembly the Minister has stated: ‘That development works on the Esplanade Quarter will not commence until agreement has been entered into for the letting of at least 200,000 square feet of office accommodation.'

“Could the Minister confirm whether this position has changed in respect to the present planning applications and if there is to be any reduction in pre-let areas and, if so, why and when he was going to announce this to the Assembly bearing in mind what is, therefore, the increased risk to the project?”

The response from the then Treasury Minister Senator Ozouf was: “No, the position has not changed.”