A £136m forward funding deal has been agreed, that will deliver 551 new homes on Sherlock Street in Birmingham, 500m from the Bull Ring shopping centre.
The scheme by Watkin Jones will be its largest build to rent development to date. Working with investor Get Living, the plans feature one, two and three-bed apartments, 27 of which will be ‘affordable’.
Residents will also benefit from social lounges, a gym, co-working speaces as well as 16,500 sq ft of ground floor commercial space available.
Alex Pease, Chief Investment Officer of Watkin Jones, said: “Our teams have done superb job developing this scheme and we’re very pleased to have secured an investor with the knowledge and commitment of Get Living to take it through delivery with us.
“Sherlock Street is perfectly located on a brownfield site in the centre of Birmingham and will offer its residents and amazing lifestyle in a highly sustainable place that offers real long-term value to the wider community.
“Institutional investment like this makes a real difference for places with significant shortage of rental homes. We have a strong record in Birmingham and are actively looking at new opportunities across the Midlands.”
Rick de Blaby, CEO of get Living, added: “Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city has always been on Get Living’s wish list and so we are very excited to have secured this key city-centre location with Watkin Jones for what will be Get Living’s eighth large-scale neighbourhood.
“This transaction for such an attractive scheme takes our secured development pipeline to circa 6,500 homes supporting our ambitious strategy to grown our portfolio to 15,000 homes within the next five years.
It is our responsibility, as long-term owners and custodians, to ensure we provide a sustainable neighbourhood for people in Birmingham, not just to call home and put down roots, but also to set the stage for a community to thrive”.
The neighbourhood will be managed and operated by Get Living on behalf of its investors, with the final phase of the scheme expected to complete in 2025.
Get Living was advised by BCLP and Colliers. Watkin Jones was advised by Addleshaw Goddard.
The post Get Living and Watkin Jones partner on £136m Birmingham scheme appeared first on Built Environment Networking.
