BL’s Vandevivere appointed to lead Platform PRS expansion

Former head of residential at British Land Jean-Marc Vandevivere has been appointed as chief executive of Westrock’s PRS brand Platform, as it looks to ramp up UK operations.  He follows former Candy director Stewart Knight, who was hired as acquisitions chief in June. They join Dominic Martin, from the government’s PRS taskforce, who began the push into rental in 2014. Vandevivere spent five years leading BL’s return to the residential sector, delivering more than £800m in projects across London. He had initially joined the executive committee as head of strategy. Platform is attempting to expand its UK operations. It rebranded in March and is now a stand-alone company separate from parent Westrock. Unlike many in the sector, it has five operational and income-producing sites, with 580 flats, valued at a total of £150m. Vandevivere said: “The reason I joined Platform is that a lot of people have been talking about the PRS for a very long time, but this was the only company which has an operational portfolio, across five locations. “This means it is getting a lot of insight into how to manage the assets, and how tenants are going to behave.” He said 50% of the flats were prelet, and that rents were on average 20% above a September 2015 valuation. Platform’s existing schemes were office-to-residential conversions under permitted development rights, but it is now moving into developing purpose-built rental stock. Vandevivere said he plans to lead an ambitious expansion programme, looking at both new-build schemes and conversions, as success in the sector is about scale. However, the company is now looking for further financing. It secured £70m in November 2015 through a debt facility with M&G Investments for its first four assets. Vandevivere said that while Westrock could provide sufficient funding for acquisitions, to move faster it is in talks with several investing partners  and is looking at a number of structures, joint ventures and partnerships. Platform’s intention is to deliver 5,000 homes within the next five years, focusing on Greater London, core cities and regional towns and cities. It is under offer on three sites, with a further 10 in due diligence. • To send feedback, e-mail alex.peace@estatesgazette.com or tweet @EGAlexPeace or @estatesgazett