As the government lays out its long-awaited Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, the chief executive of one of the UK’s largest listed landlords said authorities are missing a trick in failing to appreciate the role the build-to-rent industry can play.
“Build-to-rent is essential for levelling up,” said Grainger chief executive Helen Gordon, speaking to EG as the company reported its half-year results. “The cohort of people that live in build-to-rent is exactly the people that we need to retain in the regional cities or attract to them with good quality housing – to attract businesses, to attract jobs, to attract investment.”
Grainger’s management team and its backers know the opportunity well. In early 2020, as the country was in what Gordon calls the “foothills” of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grainger raised £186.7m in fresh equity, based in part on the levelling up agenda prime minister Boris Johnson had outlined when he came to power the year before.
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As the government lays out its long-awaited Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, the chief executive of one of the UK’s largest listed landlords said authorities are missing a trick in failing to appreciate the role the build-to-rent industry can play.
“Build-to-rent is essential for levelling up,” said Grainger chief executive Helen Gordon, speaking to EG as the company reported its half-year results. “The cohort of people that live in build-to-rent is exactly the people that we need to retain in the regional cities or attract to them with good quality housing – to attract businesses, to attract jobs, to attract investment.”
Grainger’s management team and its backers know the opportunity well. In early 2020, as the country was in what Gordon calls the “foothills” of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grainger raised £186.7m in fresh equity, based in part on the levelling up agenda prime minister Boris Johnson had outlined when he came to power the year before.
“That was to invest in paces like Nottingham, Derby, Leeds, Cardiff, and was more than four times oversubscribed,” Gordon said. “We put the case for levelling up and build-to-rent being part of it, and there was a big appetite from our shareholders to support that. And now, the first schemes will start delivering at the end of this year.”
The government has often faced criticism for seemingly failing to appreciate the value that the real estate industry at its broadest level can create. Gordon is kinder than some, and believes that many department officials are fully cognisant of the good real estate can do. But she admits to concerns about how BTR specifically is perceived.
“We have got a government that has a real focus on home ownership,” she said. “But housing delivery comes from the scale and the amount of money that can be invested in the build-to-rent sector, and also the fact it can be built in areas that are less controversial.”
She points to the “dialling back” of the planning bill last year in the wake of the Conservative’s by-election loss in Chesham and Amersham, which many analysts said was a vote against proposed planning reforms.
“The one thing about build-to-rent in the regional cities is that it tends to be on brownfield sites that are less controversial,” Gordon added. “I don’t think the government has realised that this is the way they can navigate providing more homes and being less controversial with their voter base.”
To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@eg.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @EGPropertyNews
