13th July 2022: Glide Group, a market leader in ultra-fast broadband connectivity deploying fibre infrastructure across the UK, today announces that it has acquired 100% of the shares of Velocity1 Ltd from Quintain. Alongside the acquisition, Quintain and Glide have agreed on a strategic partnership under which Glide will operate Quintain’s wholly-owned fibre optic network throughout Wembley Park, which it has been building out since 2008, and provide broadband services to the 85-acre estate.
Velocity1, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of Quintain is a technology company delivering smart city infrastructure projects for residential, business and commercial development schemes, most recently operated as the in-house fibre and internet service provider for property developer and asset manager, Quintain. The Velocity1 team is also responsible for the design, build and management of Quintain’s fibre optic networks across Wembley Park.
This network is key to providing seamless connectivity to almost 5,000 homes, 500,000 square feet of retail and leisure including Boxpark and London Designer Outlet and public Wi-Fi provision across the 85-acre Wembley Park estate.
Following the acquisition, Glide will take responsibility for the service delivered to the Wembley Park estate and will become the sole supplier of residential broadband services to Quintain Living, which manages Quintain’s build-to-rent portfolio across the estate. All current Velocity1 services will be rebranded under the Glide brand name. This cements Glides’ position as the market leader in providing internet to the fast-growing build-to-rent market.
This acquisition means that Glide will also be responsible for the design, build and management of the fibre optic networks across Quintain’s next major development phase of Wembley Park. Named North East Lands, the 12-acre site will deliver over 2,000 new homes with 769 to be built in phase one. The first developments at North East Lands comprise two buildings with blocks ranging from 10 to 27 storeys, centred around communal gardens, and a public park and each block includes a roof terrace.
North East Lands will provide almost a quarter of the 8,500 homes within Quintain’s Wembley Park overall masterplan and has been designed with high levels of sustainability in both construction and operation, in line with Quintain’s sustainability priorities.
Tim Pilcher, CEO of Glide, said: “Wembley Park is quickly becoming one of the most exciting districts in London. This acquisition will allow Glide to provide the multi-faceted campus with future-proofed, ultra-fast broadband connectivity for years to come, helping Wembley Park continue to thrive as it continues to grow and develop more asset–rich infrastructure to meet the ever-demanding requirements of its residents and commercial tenants”
James Saunders, CEO of Quintain, said: “Velocity1 has, over the last 15 years, enabled Quintain to create a fibre-optic infrastructure across Wembley Park that has been instrumental in the transformation of the estate. As the fibre ISP market has matured, it is now time to partner with an industry-leading provider. Our partnership with Glide will allow us to continue growing this critical part of our infrastructure while also benefiting from their industry-leading technical and customer service expertise. Moving forward we want to focus on delivering outstanding customer experiences and are delighted to have found a strategic partner who can help us scale and innovate the services we offer.”
Glide was advised on the transaction by Addleshaw Goddard for legal and BDO for tax and accounting.
