Social value and ESG-focused real estate fund manager – PfP Capital – and Housing Growth Partnership, an equity investor with a social impact remit backed by Lloyds Banking Group, launch a £390m joint venture to deliver residential-led, urban communities across the UK.
The new joint venture – launched to tackle declining new home delivery, ageing stock and ongoing under investment in the UK regions – will target the delivery of 1,200 sustainable homes – a mix of Build to Rent and residential for sale.
Housing Growth Partnership and PfP Capital will both commit equity into the JV, which will focus on developing individually designed urban communities, centred around high quality homes across an initial ten major UK regional city sites, over the next three to five years. Leverage will be used on a scheme-by-scheme basis.
“This partnership will accelerate the development of over 1,200 highly sustainable homes across the UK, at a time when the pace of new home delivery is rapidly declining. Residential regeneration, and community-led regeneration in particular, is key to revitalising parts of the UK that have suffered from underinvestment.
“Through bringing together a highly established equity investor, fund manager and award-winning developer, and leveraging long established local authority relationships, the JV will deliver tangible social value alongside competitive and stable long term investment returns from day one.”
John Tatham, Finance Director at PfP Capital and igloo board member
The first scheme to be brought forward is the initial phase, totalling 78 townhouses of a 400-home development at Dundashill in Glasgow. The completed development, a mix of two- three- and four-bedroom homes for sale, will be highly sustainable across the design, construction and operational stages, being of panellised modular construction with materials sourced from the local area.
80% of the low energy properties will target an EPC A rating, with additional features including photovoltaic roof panels, as well as air source heat pumps and EV enabled parking. A cycle path, linking the site to Glasgow city centre, will encourage healthy living habits and improve accessibility.
A further nine PfP igloo sites in regional cities including Nottingham and Newcastle are currently in the pipeline.
“In PfP Capital and igloo, we have a partner that shares both our social impact and sustainability values, and our desire to accelerate the much-needed delivery of quality homes across the UK. The JV reflects HGP’s ambition to support the UK’s diverse housing need through strategic partnerships with experienced developers and will see significant capital deployed into the transformation of urban brownfield sites in regional cities.”
Rachel Miller, Investment Director, Housing Growth Partnership
igloo Regeneration, the BCorp developer acquired by PfP Capital in January, will be responsible for developing the schemes, master planned by PfP igloo – a long-term partnership between PfP Capital and igloo Regeneration in collaboration with local authority counterparties.
The JV will leverage igloo Regeneration’s proprietary Footprint methodology, an internationally recognised comprehensive and holistic model for reviewing the environmental impact of design and investment decisions.
“Dundashill is an excellent example of the low carbon, sustainable homes that should be a blueprint for the UK’s future housing delivery. Connected to local ecology, cycle and walkways and nearby amenities, the JV will bring forward these schemes in partnership with existing communities using the igloo Footprint® methodology to ensure that they enrich people’s lives and the planet.”
Peter Connolly, CEO, igloo
The joint venture will leverage PfP Capital’s track record delivering investment outperformance and ongoing value growth across its three residential-led funds. PfP Capital, which is part of the Places for People Group, a large and leading social enterprise in the UK, has delivered 2,500 mixed-tenured homes across England and Scotland to date, with a further 1,700 under development or in the pipeline.
