Goodstone Living’s £131m Digbeth BTR plans approved

Goodstone Living has secured planning permission from Birmingham City Council for its first build-to-rent scheme. The planning permission will enable the £131m development of 550 homes on the four-acre site of the former Sulzer factory in Digbeth, Birmingham. The Camp Hill Gardens development is located a short walk from Birmingham New Street and Curzon Street (HS2) stations and the Bullring shopping centre and retail quarter. The scheme has been designed by Darling Associate Architects and includes six residential buildings arranged around more than an acre of private gardens. It will also include approximately 22,000 sq ft of shared internal amenity space consisting of a concierge service, gym, co-working offices, private dining rooms and rooftop terraces. The Macquarie-backed developer plans to provide one, two, and three-bedroom apartments that exceed the minimum size requirement of Birmingham City Council. Goodstone Living plans to reduce the embodied carbon during construction by more than 30%. It will use off-site volumetric modular construction and will reduce operational carbon by more than 50% by implementing the latest heating and enhanced building fabric technologies. The currently vacant site was occupied for more than 100 years by Swiss coil manufacturer Sulzer. Goodstone plans to revitalise the site for commercial use by offering the commercial space at 50% discounted rent. The design and procurement of the scheme is currently underway, with construction expected to commence in Q1 2023. Martin Bellinger, principal at Goodstone Living, said: “Birmingham’s BTR market is hugely competitive, which puts the onus on developers and investors to keep raising the bar of what renters can expect. Our Birmingham scheme is an excellent illustration of that in action, with the city’s largest private garden, low site coverage, and an unwavering focus on how we can create, foster and enhance local communities through thoughtful design and investment. “Birmingham is the UK’s second largest city by population, and with a growing cohort of residents coming to the city there is a clear need to deliver high quality purpose-built and professionally managed rental accommodation.” To send feedback, e-mail akanksha.soni@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGPropertyNews Image from Goodstone Living