Sigma starts work on 1,000-home PRS scheme
REGENERATION group Sigma said it has started work on a £100m scheme to build nearly 1,000 homes for rent in Liverpool and Greater Manchester.
It describes the projects as, “one of the first and largest private rented sector (PRS) platforms in the UK”.
The listed group, which is already working with Salford and Liverpool city councils on various redevelopment schemes, has previously said it wants to build 6,600 homes for rent at a number of locations at a cost of £700m.
It has established a joint venture with London-based Gatehouse Bank, a shariah-compliant investment bank owned by Kuwait-based Securities House. Gatehouse has put in £47m to fund the first phase and Barclays has committed a £67m loan.
The homes will be built at 14 sites developed by Sigma through its existing local authority partnerships. Ten of the locations are in Greater Manchester and four are in Liverpool. Countryside Properties will build the houses and the rentals will be managed by Direct Lettings, part of the Nottingham-based Shepherd Direct Group.
Last year Sigma said it was planning 1,450 houses in Salford and Trafford and 550 in Merseyside, mainly in Liverpool. Today it said it was “exploring with Gatehouse efficient financial structures for the delivery of further phases of new homes”.
Graham Barnet, Chief Executive of Sigma, commented: “We see considerable potential to create one of the largest new build privately rented residential portfolios in the UK and I am delighted that construction of the first phase of over 900 new homes for rent across Greater Manchester and Liverpool is now starting.”
Scott Nicol, Vice President of Real Estate Investment at Gatehouse Bank, commented: “The complexity of creating a debt and equity funded, institutional scale, private rented platform from scratch hasn’t been an easy task and therefore this transaction is a milestone for the JV and also for the sector in general.”
