IN an historic turn of events, a new consortium is preparing to offer to the public worldwide, shares in a slice of Lord’s, the home of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in England, traditional Home of Cricket, host to more than 2,000 Test Matches and official guardian of the laws of the widely loved game.

For UK£500 (A$915) buyers will receive one blockchain-backed ownership share in the strip of underground tunnels 200m long and 38m wide situated at the Nursery End of Lord’s ground in London, one of the original parcels acquired more than 200 years ago by the cricket club’s ancestors. Lord’s retains a 119-year lease on the top 18 inches of land above the tunnels.

Launched in London last week, the project could make tens of thousands of people around the globe part-owners of cricket’s iconic ground.

For UK£500 (A$915)buyers will receive oneownership share in Lord’s land situated at the Nursery End of the ground in St John’s Wood, London, one of the original parcels acquired more than 200 years ago by the cricket club’s ancestors.

The shares will be issued as Lord’s Tokens printed by the Royal Mint and will be listed on the London Block Exchange — a market for online cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin — enabling investors to buy and sell.

The concept has received the blessing of some of cricket’s most prominent figures including former England captain, David Gower OBE, ex-Test cricketers Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Allan Lamb and Chris Cowdreyand CEO of South Australian Cricket and former Australian State cricketer Keith Bradshaw who was the first ever non-British MCC Secretary & Chief Executive between 2006 and 2011.

“Some of my fondest memories are from playing in this ground, so I’m delighted that people from across the world will be able to join me and purchase their own piece of this historic and iconic ground,”says Gower who leads the New Commonwealth consortium.

Lord’s has had an unbroken connection to the history of cricket, with its property having been linked to the game since the 1700s, including in 1868 when Aboriginal cricketers became the first Australian team to play there. In modern times it hosted the first Prudential World Cup Final in 1975 when West Indies trounced Australia, India’s 2014 Test win against England after a 28 year drought at Lord’s, and the first Benson and Hedges Cup Final when Leicestershire beat Yorkshire.

New Commonwealth’s plan to facilitate common ownership of iconic assets such as Lord’s, is revolutionary for the London real estate industry because it bucks the system whereby only wealthy speculators or rich property firms can invest in London’s most exclusive property assets. Under the shareholding arrangement everyone can be part of the capital’s most lucrative market.

This unique business model is underpinned by blockchain technology, the next generation operations and security innovation that, while revolutionising safety and operations in finance and industry elsewhere in the world, has not yet overtaken the upper echelons of London real estate.

The New Commonwealth Lord’s Fund will be managed by a fully authorised Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) who will be responsible for the on-going risk management and portfolio management of the fund in line with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).

The manager has a wealth of experience in the real estate space having operated as AIFM for a number of REITS, IPO’s and standalone funds with more than $2bln under management.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2018