Present Made and Miller Homes have formed a joint venture to deliver a 650-home mixed-tenure residential-led community in Bedfordshire.
The c. 68.8ha site will provide a mixture of private-sale, affordable and single-family build-to-rent (BTR) housing. Construction is planned to begin in Q4 of 2024, with the first homes set to be delivered in 2025.
The Mill View development is located in a cluster of villages 13 minutes south of central Bedford. The site forms part of the wider Wixam Park masterplan, which includes over 1,500 homes and c. 20.2ha of employment land. The site benefits from outline planning consent for a new primary school, community infrastructure and a c. 35.2ha country park.
Alan Penfold, Managing Director at Present Made, said: “In Miller Homes, we have a five-star, best-in-class delivery partner renowned for its quality of product and speed of execution. The delivery partner model will help Present Made achieve scale faster while ensuring we maintain the highest design, build and operational standards. This relentless focus has defined Apache Capital’s purpose-built prime multifamily build-to-rent strategy and will see us deliver a new community at Mill View that sets new benchmarks for excellence.”
Benjamin Massey, Divisional Managing Director at Miller Homes, said: “We are pleased to have formed this joint venture with Present Made to deliver 650 mixed tenure homes in Bedford, enabling us to complete this significant land acquisition together, and we hope it forms the foundation for other opportunities. Building mixed-tenure homes as part of our business model allows us to continue diversifying our portfolio while creating new opportunities for land acquisition and supporting our overall growth ambitions to 6,500 homes per year. Mill View will offer residents a blend of thriving town life and picturesque countryside living, with easy access to local transport links, and green spaces including the new country park on the doorstep.”
John Dunkerley, CEO at Apache Capital, said: “The tri-tenure model is a win-win for investors, communities, and housebuilders: investors get to satisfy the ‘triple bottom line’ by delivering solid financial, environmental and social returns, communities get a broad range of much-needed new housing, while housebuilders get de-risked sites and diversified sources of income beyond highly cyclical market sales. We see this model as being key to scaling our Present Made platform as we look to work with third-party capital to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the UK’s rapidly changing housing market.”
Image provided by Monfort.
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