The merged development business will focus on the local authority urban regeneration market, under the brand of ION Developments, headquartered at the Port of Liverpool Building.

VINCI UK Developments and ION are already working jointly on a number of projects, including major urban regeneration schemes in Derby city centre, Chester Northgate 2, the Coventry Civic Centre site and Northwich Weaver Square.

ION’s existing development portfolio including Borough Yard, Birkenhead, Stafford town centre and Westgate Wakefield will also be delivered by the newly combined entity.

The merged business will be led by Steve Parry – Managing Director, Rob Mason – Commercial Director (both former ION directors) and Ian Hudson – Finance Director, who led the finance team at VINCI UK Developments.

ION has been privately owned for 36 years and the deal will see the departure of outgoing shareholders and non-executive directors Peter Hynd and Gavin Douglas.

Parry said: “At a time when local authorities and other public bodies across the UK are exploring new solutions for urban regeneration and the use of their land assets, this is the ideal moment to bring together these two specialist businesses to create a single regeneration developer which has the vision, experience and resources to bring projects of all sizes to life.

“We already have a strong forward pipeline and the new structure will only enhance our capacity to deliver these and other future projects.”

Peter Hynd added: “ION has delivered many transformational regeneration schemes that have had a positive impact on our towns, cities and communities by delivering high quality urban buildings that have created a sense of place.

“Many of these projects were regarded as ‘too difficult’, but we have delivered consistently, working closely with our public sector partners. This deal with VINCI stands as testament to our legacy of success and we are proud to be leaving the business in such a strong position, with an incredibly bright future ahead and we wish the hard-working ION team every success in the future.”

Scott Wardrop, chief executive of VINCI Construction in the UK, said: “We are delighted to confirm this agreement, which will see the creation of a consolidated development business, that can harness even more of our collective strengths and support greater numbers of local authorities and other clients to make a long-lasting, positive change to their communities across future generations.”