Grainger Network Rail and Bloc Group announce partnership to build 2,000 UK homes
Residential landlord Grainger has announced a new build-to-rent partnership with Network Rail and the property developer Bloc Group to deliver 2,000 homes across Britain.
The UK’s largest listed residential landlord said in a statement that the collaboration would develop purpose-built rental homes at sites across six major cities.
The scheme forms a part of the group’s wider ‘blocwork’ joint venture, which regenerates underutilised brownfield sites adjacent to railway infrastructure, with the purpose of boosting local economies.
Network Rail, which manages the UK’s rail infrastructure network, will bring forward potential build-to-rent sites from its property portfolio, with the blocwork venture taking the schemes through the planning process.
Grainger will work on design proposals and fund the projects once planning approval is secured.
The partnership has previously built 348 build-to-rent homes in Nottingham as part of The Barnum project, a flagship ten-storey development located next to Nottingham Midland Station.
Helen Gordon, chief executive officer at Grainger, said: “Having successfully delivered The Barnum, a build-to-rent scheme of 348 homes, with the Network Rail and Bloc Joint Venture ‘blocwork’, we see this as a great opportunity to collaborate further and deliver a potential 2,000 much needed high-quality rental homes across the country, aligned to our city strategy.”
“This partnership supports Grainger’s ambitious growth plans and provides access to superbly located and well-connected sites.”
The announcement came alongside Grainger’s full-year results, which revealed record delivery of 1,640 new homes across the country.
The London-listed landlord currently operates a £3.3bn portfolio of 10,208 private rental homes and a £1.6bn, 5634 home build-to-rent pipeline. Occupancy in the group’s portfolio remains at an all-time high of 98.6 per cent and rental growth has averaged eight per cent, “in line with wage inflation, split between 9.2 per cent on new lets and 7.2 per cent on renewals, demonstrating our commitment to customer loyalty.”
The latest report from the British Property Federation revealed the build-to-rent sector has seen a surge in construction activity in the UK’s regional cities, up 11 per cent year on year.