Bradman returns to fray
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Your support makes all the difference.BY JAMES BETHELL
Controversial property developer Godfrey Bradman is set to tender for the development of the Treasury building in London's Whitehall, one of the country's most prestigious developments.
The move comes just three years after Mr Bradman, a friend of Prince Charles, bowed out of Rosehaugh, the company behind the Broadgate development that failed in 1993.
The Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke, announced the redevelopment of the Treasury's 87-year old Parliament Street headquarters in January as part of the Government's private finance initiative.
The Government hopes to expand the amount of office space in the ornate building, which at present includes large numbers of corridors, halls and stairways. Private capital is sought to pay for refurbishment.
Tenders will be advertisedlater this month and by July a contractor will have been chosen, a Treasury spokesman said. Work will begin at the end of 1998 and the building will be re-occupied by the end of 2001.
The Treasury bid will be the second big step in Mr Bradman's re-emergence. Last month his company, backed by Scottish Amicable, obtained planning consent for a pounds 450m shopping and residential development on the site of the Vanderbilt Tennis club in West London - once one of the Princess of Wales's favourite haunts.
The go-ahead for the Vanderbilt development marked a milestone on the road to recovery for the son of a Willesden shopkeeper, who left school at 15. As an accountant he worked as a tax specialist, and is credited with saving clients millions.
He bought Rosehaugh in 1978 and many of his developments were praised by environmentalists, including Prince Charles.
But the recession hit hard and he stood down from Rosehaugh in 1992 when the company reported pre-tax losses of pounds 226m before calling in the receivers.
Last night Mr Bradman refused to talk to reporters. "I have nothing to say about this or any other commercial transaction at the moment," he said.
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