2.20 The Department and Land Securities Trillium agreed a vacant possession value of some £140 million for the freehold and valuable leaseholds covered within the PRIME expansion contract. The Department decided to receive this amount split into an up-front payment of £100 million, after seeking variant bids, as we recommended in our report on PRIME, of £100 million, £150 million and £0, and a reduction in the annual Unitary Charge over the life of the contract, equivalent in present value terms to the £40 million balance.
2.21 The Department will gain 50 per cent in any increase in value achieved on the disposal of freeholds relative to contractual base values. To further safeguard its position, the Department has a First Charge on the £40 million of property value transferred not covered by the capital receipt, reducing to £1.4 million in the last year of the contract. Under PRIME a similar charge lasted for five years.