Latest build-to-rent project announced by fast-expanding Grainger Plc

Grainger Plc, the UK’s largest build-to-rent company, has invested £28m in a new development hot on the heels of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s announcement yesterday that the government is to spend £8bn supporting build-to-rent and private housebuilding. The company, which saw its share price rise following both announcements, says it is to finance the building of, and then own, Grainger’s Yard in Birmingham. “We are pleased today to announce our latest investment in one of our key target locations,” says Chief Executive Helen Gordon (pictured, left). It’s a 156-apartment block of purpose-built, privately-rented homes on the fringes of the city’s fast-gentrifying central Jewellery Quarter (pictured, right). The acquisition is part of a plan to invest £850m in the sector over the next three years, and in addition to £389m already spent this year including a £100m development in Salford, £57.3m development in Kew, London and a £40m property in Leeds. Newcastle-based Grainger is leading the built-to-rent charge in the UK, spurred on by a Conservative government keen on the sector’s ability to provide privately-funded rental apartments in large number at zero cost to the Treasury. Although the Chancellor didn’t mention it in his speech, build-to-rent is a key plank in the government’s…