A new project in Salford has taken the house-building pipeline of Legal & General’s new build-to-rent joint venture to nearly 800 new homes.

Above: CGI of the latest Salford scheme

This is more than a quarter of the way to the 3,000 homes that Legal & General Capital (LGC) and Dutch pension fund manager PGGM are together aiming to develop for the UK private rented sector (PRS).

They have so far committed £250m of the £600m they have earmarked for disrupting PRS.

LGC and PGGM have bought a further site in Salford from developer English Cities Fund (ECf).  This is the partnership’s second acquisition in Salford, with further schemes in Bristol and Walthamstow, London. The new Salford site is next to the existing New Bailey build-to-rent scheme and being developed by ECf. It has full planning consent for 135 units over 15 storeys, providing a total of 225 new homes that will be managed by LGIM Real Assets, another Legal & General company. 

Construction is due to begin in April 2016, with practical completion to be delivered in March 2018. Devised and designed by the ECf, which is a joint venture between Muse Developments, Legal & General and the Homes & Communities Agency, New Bailey is a major regeneration scheme.

LGIM Real Assets head Bill Hughes said:  “With long term ownership at the heart of our designs, we will ensure that lifecycle costs, maintenance and management of these homes is considered right from the outset of our land acquisition process so that we can pass on a high quality service and good value costs to our residents.  Successful international comparisons, such as the Netherlands, Germany and US, demonstrate to us that the UK has a long way to go and we believe that through professionalising the private rental sector we are able to encourage better standards across the board.”

ECf development director Phil Mayall said: “The investment from LGC and PGGM is further testament to the momentum that is building on site as the scheme progresses at a pace. The two build-to-rent developments are the first of their kind to achieve institutional investment in Manchester, which means that real progress is now being made to bring both schemes forward. The progress that is taking place on the wider New Bailey development and the surrounding infrastructure is also extremely positive for the area.”