LGIM Real Assets announces that Bristol City Council has approved its 255 unit Build to Rent (BTR) scheme, ‘ND7’, in Bristol city centre. The regeneration scheme will provide a much-needed boost to Bristol’s rental housing supply and will help deliver the new Mayor’s housing targets.
ND7 is the first BTR development to receive planning committee support in Bristol. The scheme will provide high-quality homes for elective renters that will support them for the long term, offering a level of flexibility and choice that currently isn’t available in Bristol. The scheme will champion the rights of tenants, offering longer and more flexible tenancies with no hidden fees and long term certainty over rental levels, making renting a more affordable and active choice.
Legal & General, through Legal & General Capital (LGC) and LGIM Real Assets, entered the BTR market in 2016, in partnership with PGGM. Committed to raising the standard of UK renting across the board, LGIM Real Assets BTR fund, alongside LGC and PGGM, has €1,17bn (£1bn) to invest in developing new large scale rental development properties. It currently has over 1,000 build to rent homes under construction, or in planning, with an initial aim of building over 4,000.
To date Legal & General has invested £8bn in UK infrastructure, direct investments and urban regeneration projects, aiming to invest over €17.61bn (£15bn). Long-term capital is used to invest in the new assets, providing rental income for pension funds to pay their pensioners and creating an important economic stimulus for UK urban regeneration areas, delivering new jobs and growth.
ND7 is located within the Temple Quay Enterprise Zone, behind PWC and Burges Salmon, near Temple Meads station. Sustainability will be at the heart of the development’s design with green infrastructure incorporated into the development. Options to embed energy generation, reduce energy consumption, appropriately resource sensitive materials, optimise water and waste efficiency, and mitigate pollution during construction will all be incorporated. Assael Architecture will be the architects on the scheme.
Dan Batterton, BTR Fund Manager, LGIM Real Assets: “In Bristol there are increasing numbers of people needing to rent and an urgent need for high density, city centre, rental accommodation. It is great news that this innovative scheme has been approved by Bristol City Council, who recognise that ND7 will make a major contribution towards Bristol’s rental housing supply.”
ND7 forms part of a wider €234,75m (£200m) investment by Legal & General in Bristol. It is also behind the new Glass Wharf office development, which the HMRC will be moving into.
Legal & General’s BTR strategy will create a portfolio of high quality, long-term residential assets. These new homes are required as result of a nationwide shortage across all tenures, as well as changing social and demographic trends, particularly the way people live and work in urban areas. As well as Bristol, Legal & General has BTR schemes in Salford and Walthamstow.
