Court Collaboration: ‘Competition in Birmingham is fierce’

Anthony McCourt is bringing a new record to Birmingham. Not satisfied with designing Birmingham’s first skyscraper, the chief executive and co-founder of developer Court Collaboration is now launching its largest build-to-rent scheme in Digbeth with backing from billionaire property tycoon Tony Gallagher. “Stone Yard is the largest scheme ever to come out of Digbeth and our biggest residential scheme to date,” says McCourt. “It will begin to take shape early next year and will set residential quality benchmarks for the southern gateway of the city.” The £350m development comprises 928 flats in up to 30-storey towers close to Birmingham city centre and New Street station. Gallagher, founder and former chairman of Gallagher Estates, is one of a string of investors to join forces with the Midlands developer, following on from major deals that have seen the likes of Greystar and Invesco make their way into Birmingham. [caption id="attachment_997317" align="alignnone" width="847"] Stone Yard, Digbeth[/caption] Regeneration in Digbeth On a hot July afternoon at CC headquarters on Birmingham’s Colmore Row, McCourt pores over a map of the city centre. The developer has a £1bn portfolio on around 15 sites in the area. He gestures to the east and south of the centre, pointing out the biggest sites in the region from Eastside, on the doorstop to the proposed HS2 station, sweeping downwards to Digbeth. “The major sites in Birmingham are drying up,” he says. “You’ve probably got a dozen really high-quality, dense sites in the city centre and the competition for them is fierce.” The past year has seen a number of long-stalled developments in Birmingham come to life, inviting investment from both domestic and international players. Birmingham City Council has partnered with Lendlease to unlock the £1.5bn Smithfield project, which is expected to deliver 2,000 new homes five minutes from New Street station. Household names such as Berkeley and Galliard are already building in that part of the city and a scattering of sites boast consents for large schemes with increasing height. McCourt says the epicentre of development will be in Digbeth: “Some people don’t understand Digbeth, we are a huge proponent of it. If you walk from the front door of the Bullring Trading Estates to the front door of the new HS2 station it is less than seven minutes. I don’t think the penny has fully dropped on the proximity of Digbeth to Eastside.” He adds that regeneration in this part of the city has been triggered by the local authority: “Birmingham City Council really is open for business.” The West Midlands Combined Authority boasts a £10bn prospectus of investment opportunities in the wider region and Birmingham City Council is laying the foundation for this with plans for £1bn of investment into infrastructure around the HS2 station at Curzon Street, including public realm development and extending the metro. “It’s going to turn that area into the new place to be,” says McCourt. “That’s why One Eastside was a no brainer, you’re 100 yards away. You walk across the road and you’re at the corridor.” At One Eastside Court, Collaboration is awaiting consent for the city’s largest build-to-rent scheme with 667 flats in towers of up to 51 storeys, or 160m, for US multifamily giant Greystar.  These two schemes build on almost a decade of experience in Digbeth, working with Chinese and Hong Kong capital to deliver for-sale flats in a very different market. [caption id="attachment_993541" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] One Eastside, Birmingham[/caption] Cold-calling China McCourt cut his teeth in property working at the iconic Cube in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse and global recession. He secured some of the highest residential values the city has ever seen at £516 per sq ft and went on to found Court Collaboration in 2011. “The genesis of the business really started in China,” he says. “We were a development management business for a number of high-net-worths and family offices in mainland China and Hong Kong.” In the days of the recession, McCourt sought development finance from the Far East by cold-calling investors to pitch Birmingham, many of which were swayed by the promise of HS2. “Domestic capital had gone to sleep and wasn’t playing speculatively in the resi space. China was and we found an opportunity because we had to. They were very focused on acquiring land in and around the city core because of the benefits of HS2.” He brought on Hong Kong’s Top Capital Group to fund the Franklin at the former Cadbury’s factory on the outskirts of Birmingham, near the university. The investor then channelled the profits into schemes at Arden Gate and the Axium, edging into the city centre. “We are their local team on the ground,” says McCourt. “They are 5,000 miles away, they take significant construction and development risk and sales risk in Birmingham.” [caption id="attachment_1001003" align="aligncenter" width="847"] The Franklin, Birmingham[/caption] Court Collaboration finds unconsented sites, delivering planning consent and senior debt alongside TCG’s equity. The developer builds it out and sells the homes to international buyers and the local market. McCourt is quick to stress the positives of driving inward investment from overseas and when it comes to sales, he insists at least 50% of homes are targeted to the UK buyers’ market, utilising government initiatives such as Help to Buy. “We underestimate the wall of money that is in China and Hong Kong,” says McCourt, though he admits some investors have pulled back as a result of government currency controls in mainland China. Regardless, the developer is bringing a serious pipeline of Asian investment across the Midlands and into new regional cities. It has projects in Leeds and Wolverhampton, and is closing in on Coventry, with a view to delivering a hybrid for-sale-meets-build-to-rent product. “The Chinese know Wolverhampton like the back of their hand,” says McCourt, pointing out that the Forsun International-owned Wolverhampton Wanderers’ elevation to the Premier League has been good for business, helping to bring in foreign capital alongside the wave of funds targeting build-to-rent opportunities. The only way is up Court Collaboration is targeting 20% year-on-year growth of its portfolio, the bulk of which is focused in Birmingham. “We have opportunity, but these are challenging projects, like the tallest tower in the Midlands, so it’s all hands on deck,” says McCourt. As investment floods into the city, the skyline is awash with a flurry of plans for skyscrapers and towers spreading outside of the allocated area for high-rise development at Broad Street. “The availability of capital is bringing development forward. It’s not just the cost of capital, but the liquidity to build dense schemes and take the risk on huge BTR schemes is there now.“ McCourt says Birmingham is taking note from London and Manchester when it comes to height, and it will rely on the build-to-rent finance to fund those skyscrapers. “The economics in this city are better than Manchester, so you think, where has the development community gone wrong? Are we not thinking big enough or being courageous enough? This is where One Eastside came from.” But does this pipeline mean Birmingham is at risk of topping out? And can it sustain the BTR premium on rents? “A number of people challenge me on the rental pricing and the sales pricing,” says McCourt. “The great thing about the free market economy is that will sort itself out. If developers are overpricing, they will pay the price for it. And if they haven’t overpriced, they’ll reap that demand.” He acknowledges that some rental rises in the regions have been “punchy”, but adds there is still a shortage of supply for a rapidly growing population. The British Property Federation has just 5,759 BTR units committed to the city, compared with 74,767 in London and 23,320 in Manchester but there is significantly more to come. Court Collaboration has worked on developments that would boost this by at least 2,500 more homes. “If you look at our supply and demand at the moment, we’re in a really healthy place,” says McCourt. “Even if you look at the collective pipeline. We are the economic engine house of the UK at the minute. We are the only place in the UK that has a trade service with China and our economics are better than any region.” But expansion is not without its challenges. The government’s review of HS2 threatens to quash that £1bn of investment, despite the diggers already working at Curzon Street. But this isn’t a problem for Birmingham, rather the ramifications that hurt UK plc, says McCourt. “I don’t see the review as detrimental to the investment case for Birmingham. HS2 is the icing on the cake for our value proposition as a city, but taking it away is not going to kill it.” Birmingham will be just fine, he assures. The city is on every fund’s hit list – at home and abroad. The focus now will be on delivery. “For a business founded on selling Birmingham to Mandarin-speaking Chinese investors, we don’t need to rehearse the inward investment statistics. But now, when we are talking to the funds about Birmingham, we no longer have to sell the city.”