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Corporate
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Legal & General (L&G) has launched its first build-to-rent (BTR) scheme at The Slate Yard in Salford.
7 Jun 2017
Residents are due to move into their new homes this week and for the first time will be able to experience L&G’s new service-orientated proposition.
Across its BTR sites, L&G is creating bespoke, quality rental stock that offers a positive choice for elective renters. The Slate Yard will offer residents a lifestyle that they would otherwise not have access to, even if they owned their own home. This includes a 24-7 onsite team, who will attend to emergencies within a matter of hours, without you having to wait in, and can also help to arrange everything from deliveries to residents’ events. They can even arrange housekeeping services for you, just like a hotel, such as picking up and dropping off your dry cleaning.
The residents will also benefit from favourable all-in costs, through significantly reduced energy costs, no letting fees, and free services such as WiFi and a car club. This equates to a saving of around £150 a month per apartment. Green initiatives include solar panels on the roof, which provides the building with communal lighting and power, and secure cycle storage. There’s also a stylish riverside residents lounge, with free coffee on tap, which offers a vibrant environment to work in, meet other residents, or entertain friends.
Customers are also, for the first time, being offered longer and more flexible tenancies to create greater occupational security, with tenancy options ranging from six months to five years. They can also decorate their own homes and keep pets – options traditionally only linked to home ownership - with a readily available handyman able to do any alterations for them.
Located on Stanley Street, on the banks of the River Irwell and part of English Cities Fund’s New Bailey regeneration area of the city, the 225-unit scheme is being developed in two phases. The first phase, which comprises 90 apartments, has now been launched to the market and is ready for customers to move in.
Dan Batterton, BTR Fund Manager at LGIM Real Assets, said: “Our BTR vision has now come to life. For too long renters have found themselves at the mercy of expensive moving fees, unresponsive managers, and private landlords who often want to minimise upkeep costs and maximise rents. At the Slate Yard we have been able to offer significantly reduced living costs because of economies of scale, which a private landlord just wouldn’t be able to do. The scheme’s build maximises energy efficiencies and the combined weight of our negotiation power with external service providers allows us to save our customers thousands of pounds in bills each year.
“The improved service proposition and flexible leases has already attracted a wide range of residents. We have families, pet owners, empty nesters and young couples who have already reserved homes and are moving in this week, which is testament to how this new level of service and offering allows for all types of residents needs and gives them choice. We want our customers to feel like they are in their home, not staying in someone else’s.”
Mathieu Elshout, Senior Director Private Real Estate at PGGM, added: “The Slate Yard is a very good example of our BTR partnership strategy with L&G - investing in strong urban regeneration locations where we can build sustainable schemes that will have a positive impact on the built environment over the long term. As a responsible investor of Dutch pension capital, this is an excellent fit. The Slate Yard is the first of our BTR investments to be launched and we look forward to delivering new fit for purpose schemes in strategic city centre locations across the UK.”
L&G’s total investment capability for the Build to Rent (BTR) sector currently stands at circa £1 billion, having raised capital from major pension funds for an open-ended Build to Rent (BTR) fund, as well as a £600 million JV investment by Legal & General Capital and PGGM. As well as Salford, its existing sites in Bristol, Bath, Leeds and Walthamstow are progressing well with construction work for both Bath and Walthamstow due to start this summer. Focused on key urban regeneration areas centred around transport hubs, it is targeting schemes of over 150 units, taking advantage of economies of scale to deliver better value and more choice for its residents, whilst building sustainable, vibrant communities.
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PGGM is a cooperative Dutch pension fund service provider. Institutional clients are offered: asset management, pension fund management, policy advice and management support. On December 31, 2016 PGGM had EUR 205.8 billion in assets under management. The PGGM cooperative has approximately 720,000 members and is helping them to realize a valuable future. Either alone or together with strategic partners, PGGM develops future solutions by linking together pension, care, housing and work.
English Cities Fund (ECf) is a joint venture between Muse Developments, Legal & General and the Homes & Communities Agency. ECf′s portfolio has brought forward major regeneration schemes in Salford, Liverpool, Wakefield, Canning Town and Plymouth. It was created by government to identify and break through the barriers to institutional investment and pave the way for higher levels of private investment in the re-shaping of our towns and cities.
Olivia Bayliss
Head of Communications
Capital and LGIM Real Assets
LGIMRA is a division of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of Europe’s largest
institutional asset managers and a major global investor. LGIM manages £1.29 trillion1 ($1.57tn) in
assets, working with a range of global clients, including pension schemes, sovereign wealth funds, fund distributors and retail investors.
LGIM Real Assets has assets under management of £36 billion2 ($43.8bn) and is one of the largest
private markets investment managers in the UK. Investing in both debt and equity and across the
risk/return spectrum, LGIM Real Assets actively invests in and manages assets across commercial,
operational and residential property sectors, as well as infrastructure, real estate, corporate and
alternative debt.
Taking a long-term view in order to future proof our investments, LGIM Real Assets continues to lead the industry in ESG performance, considering all environmental, social and governance issues at asset level as well as portfolio level.
1LGIM internal data as at 30 June 2022. These figures include assets managed by LGIMA, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Data includes derivative positions.
2Source: LGIM Real Assets. AUM data as at 30 June 2022.
*at 13 Jan 2023
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
For professional clients only. Past performance is not a guide to the future. The value of an investment and any income taken from it is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up, you may not get back the amount you originally invested. Views expressed are of LGIM as at 12 January 2023. The Information in this document (a) is for information purposes only and we are not soliciting any action based on it, and (b) is not a recommendation to buy or sell securities or pursue a particular investment strategy; and (c) is not investment, legal, regulatory or tax advice. Legal & General Investment Management Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 02091894. Registered Office: One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, No. 119272.
Legal & General Capital (LGC) is Legal & General Group’s alternative asset platform, creating assets for Legal & General Retirement and third-party clients in order to achieve improved risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. LGC has built its capabilities in a range of alternative sectors, including in residential property; specialist commercial real estate; clean energy; alternative credit; and venture capital, which are all supported by long-term structural growth drivers, meet a financing gap, and respond to a scarcity of supply that is underpinned by enduring societal needs.