A £70m development for 404 rental units, the first-ever Built To Rent scheme in the West Midlands, has been announced by Barberry Group.
The developer says the scheme - known as CV1 Bishop Gate and located in the centre of Coventry - will be one of the largest BTR schemes outside of London and will tap into the Midlands' burgeoning population of young professionals.
Bishop Gate is on the site of the former Royal Mail sorting office, which Barberry bought in 2011. Barberry initially planned a retail-led scheme with a superstore but failed to attract a major supermarket operator due to major changes in the retail market since the downturn.
The new Bishop Gate proposals include a 40-60 split of one and two-bedroom apartments; the original sorting office building will be demolished. The design will use the experience of recent London BTR schemes to put the emphasis on convenience and lifestyle, with shops at ground level and an acre of private landscaped gardens on an elevated podium.
The government aims to have work under way by 2015 on 10,000 new homes specifically for private rent under two rounds of the coalition's BTR funding.
Comments
Good idea, hope the model can be sustainable in the long-term. The Midlands is often overlooked, but it has one of the largest populations outside of the capital and plenty of young professionals, so I think it's a good thing that this scheme is being trialled there. With so many people now renting, Build to Rent could be the way forward.
While I think this is very good, I can't help but wish they would have added a sustainability element. What a great opportunity it would have been to build theses homes with an eco focus to use as an inspiration for the rest of the country. By incorporating solar panels or sustainable building they could have had a great opportunity to not only set an environmentally friendly example but to reduce their long term costs! I still think it's a good scheme, but it could have been improved upon!
Hmm I wouldn't have thought of the Midlands as a booming property market, but I suppose they've done their research. I wish them luck, hopefully this can be used as a model for other areas of the country.