City Build To Rent Schemes - two new announcements

Developer Beech Holdings has secured planning permission for its luxury development of Build To Rent apartments in Sheffield.

Sheffield Gardens will include 158 units of one, two and three bedroomed apartments.  

The development will begin in Q4 2024 with the demolition of the current dilapidated and unused commercial buildings on site. The scheme will remain in the long-term control of the Beech Holdings’ Group with full property management and a commitment to the community with at least 10 permanent jobs created, alongside the 100+ jobs created in the construction phase.

Stephen Beech, chief executive, says: “This is a significant development for Beech Holdings, our very first in Yorkshire and second outside of our home city of Manchester. It demonstrates our commitment to deliver exceptional apartments across the UK’s regional cities as we grow to be a national developer.

“Our company has a 20-year history of delivering exceptional apartment developments and I’m thrilled to be able to offer local people in Sheffield that same standard. We always look to regenerate where we can; this unused and unloved commercial site is in exactly the location we want to breathe new life into. We’ll be creating over 100 immediate jobs for the construction phase and we’ll have a permanent staff of at least 10 to deliver residents a premium level of service and maintenance.”

The scheme has a gross development value of £55m and will include a large, private gym, external landscaped courtyard and beautiful roof-top gardens for residents to enjoy. Beech Holdings has achieved 100% bio-diversity net gain through the inclusion of external amenity and bird/bat boxes to promote and encourage nature. With a great location in Sheffield’s city centre, the apartments will offer exceptional, sustainable accommodation for residents.

Neil Baumber, development director at Beech Holdings, comments: “We are actively looking at other sites in Sheffield, we feel we can offer the standard of accommodation that local people desire. We’ll be getting to work quickly in the final quarter of this year.”

Meanwhile Watkin Jones, a prominent developer and manager of Build To Rent has topped out a 316-bed scheme in Bath. 

Forward funded by DWS, a global asset manager, the two-building development creates a part of an extensive mixed-use scheme at Lower Bristol Road. 

The scheme will offer a combination of studios, one, two and three-bedroom homes (including accessible homes): to increase affordability, one in three of these homes will be provided at a discounted rental rate. 

Watkin Jones says the scheme will meet high environmental sustainability standards, targeting Home Quality Mark Level Three. Key sustainability features include air source heat pumps, the provision of EV chargers and car club spaces. Emission reduction will be achieved through renewable resources including water saving fittings. 

This is the largest purpose-built BTR development in Bath and will offer large outdoor amenity space; residents will enjoy landscaped communal courtyard gardens and a frontage of newly planted trees to increase biodiversity and attractiveness. 

Richard Harris - managing director of group delivery at Watkin Jones - says: “This is our second development working in partnership with DWS, and we are very pleased to reach this milestone, as we continue together, to offer much needed rental homes in Bath. Together we are working to create sustainable homes for a range of people to live in that will help meet the growing rental demand in the city.”