Leading Midlands developer Taylor Grange has selected Galliford Try Investments as its preferred development partner for its major residential projects in Birmingham.
The first development in the partnership will be Lancaster Wharf on Princip Street, a build-to-rent scheme in the Gun Quarter, which will consist of approximately 280 apartments currently in planning. The project is set to complete in summer 2020 with practical completion expected to be just in time for the Commonwealth games 2022 and will see further development in the area. Knight Frank has advised on the deal.
Taylor Grange currently has a delivery pipeline of 3,000 homes in Birmingham, across several developments, both for sale and rent. Galliford Try is the most active contractor in the city delivering multiple developments with a value of more than £270m including Axium on Windmill Hill, 3 Centenary Square, HMRC’s new offices at 3 Arena Central and Dandara Tower. Galliford Try also recently completed HSBC’s new Head Quarters, a flagship development for the city.
Sam Ginda who leads the Taylor Grange city centre developments commented:
“This is the start of a bright era and we welcome Galliford Try to the team as our development partner, having worked together on the scheme for the past months with our respective teams it was apparent that Galliford Try is best placed to deliver on value, quality, design and financial robustness. Galliford Try has demonstrated that they will be able to deliver quality, well designed homes in the city in a timely manner.”
Phil Harris, Director of Galliford Try Investments, added:
“We are delighted to be working with Taylor Grange on this fantastic new development in Birmingham, a city which is a key target for us in our national PRS development plans. We are looking forward to securing a planning consent for the Lancaster Wharf site, which we hope to be the first of many in partnership with Taylor Grange helping the city meet its growing housing needs.”
Will Jordan, Knight Frank’s Head of Residential Development in Birmingham commented:
“Seeing this partnership is exciting for both parties and has the potential to see numerous opportunities come out of the ground”
The news follows Knight Frank’s Residential Investment report, which shows that Birmingham will be the UK’s top city for attracting private rented sector (PRS) investment over the next five years.
Knight Frank surveyed 43 leading investors with a combined £32bn already invested across Student Accommodation, investment grade PRS and Senior Living Rental. The respondents identified the cities where they saw the biggest opportunities in each sector over the next five years. Birmingham is the best opportunity for PRS by quite some margin, according to respondents, driven by regeneration and infrastructure improvement.
The Knight Frank research also shows that nationally over the next five years the PRS sector is set to leapfrog Student Accommodation, in terms of size, with the sum of capital invested and committed in the investment-grade private rented sector (forecast to be £75bn) rising to more than the total value of the Student Accommodation sector (forecast to be £65bn).