The Build to Rent sector continues to be a bright spot for the UK construction sector providing opportunities for contractors.

The Build to Rent sector continues to be a bright spot for the UK construction sector providing opportunities for contractors.

With higher mortgage rates and a mixed economic outlook putting new house sales under pressure, one continuing bright spot for the construction industry is the Build to Rent (BTR) homes sector.

According to a recent report from Savills, UK Build to Rent Market Update, the supply of new rental homes is failing to keep pace with soaring demand, particularly as smaller, private buy-to-let landlords pull out of the market in the face of tighter regulations and higher interest costs.

This in turn should mean continuing healthy demand – and positive new work prospects – for larger scale, institutionally-funded BTR developments across the country.

Positive work prospects

Over £5 billion was invested in the UK BTR sector in the year up to last September and in the third quarter alone, the funds flowing into the sector were up 75 per cent on the period a year earlier. Whilst uncertainty and higher interest rates have cast doubt on all property sectors recently, Savills says BTR deals ‘continue to progress’.

The work prospects in the sector also appear positive. Before Christmas, the BTR stock stood at 76,800 completed homes with a further 49,800 homes under construction. In all, the future pipeline stands at 113,500 homes, including those in the pre-application stage.

One promising sector of the market is single family rental (SFR) homes where there are around 15,000 units in the pipeline, more than double the level of a year ago. SFR schemes are also getting bigger; the typical size of an existing development has increased to 77 homes whilst new sites under construction average 94 homes and those at the planning stage typically involve 103 homes.

Opportunities up north

The opportunities in BTR are strong in northern UK cities with large and growing student populations. Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds all have large student numbers but face an under-supply of both purpose built student accommodation and buy-to-let housing.

Cities such as Glasgow, Belfast and Manchester have high a proportion of young graduates who want to live close to their place of work, which in turn bodes well for the demand for rental homes.

Glenigan data provides numerous examples of BTR developments across the country which reflect these trends and where work is due to start in coming months.

In Manchester, detailed plans have been submitted for a £107.7 million development at Albert Bridge House (pictured) involving some 367 BTR flats, alongside a 19-storey off

Housing associations are increasingly working with new partners better placed to finance and take forward new developments.

Glenigan’s market research found that housing associations submitted 254 detailed planning applications featuring proposals for 10 or more units in 2022. These submissions contained a total of 17,784 homes.

The average application contained 70 units but the number of units in the pipeline fell sharply, as housing associations looked to develop projects with partners to offset rising costs.

Glenigan’s economics director Allan Wilén explains: “Potential funding for new social housing provision has improved since 2020, with housing associations and other social housing providers better placed to finance and take forward new developments. However, despite the improved funding, increased construction costs appear to be constraining development activity.

“Housing Associations are increasingly developing sites with mixed tenures and in partnership with other developers, providing the opportunity to cross-subsidise rented accommodation.”

Clarion call

Clarion sought permission to build the greatest number of social housing units last year with applications to build 1,707 homes. The group’s partners include the London Borough of Southwark on the Flaxyard Peckham scheme to provide 164 flats and four townhouses .Clarion is also developing 336 flats at Furness Quay in Salford with developers Beaumont Morgan, Elite City and Fortis Developments 

Clarion continues to develop schemes independently. These range from a £36 million plan to regenerate the Barne Barton Estate in Plymouth to provide 102 houses and 102 flats , to the first phase – providing 623 homes – of the City Reach development in Leeds.

Top 10 Housing Associations by 2022 planning pipeline

Company	Total Applications	Total Units
Clarion Housing	12	1,707
Home Group	3	914
Sovereign Housing	7	765
Evera Homes	7	748
Peabody Trust	3	691
Goram Homes	4	602
Trafford Housing Trust	5	594
Women's Pioneer Housing	3	533
Places For People	4	498
Saffron Housing Trust	1	461

Source: Glenigan

Busy planning

Home Group was ranked in second spot after filing detailed plans to build more than 900 homes in 2022. Home Group is also working with partners, such as Karbon Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Miller on the South Seaham Garden Village (Project ID: 08026773). This will provide 1,500 homes and Glenigan’s research suggests construction will start this year.

Sovereign ran in third with proposals including plans for nearly 800 homes. Schemes ranged from the 60 unit Bleadon Hill scheme in Weston-Super-Mare in conjunction with Vistry to the £10.4 million Taverner’s Field development at West Clyst in Devon , which the group is – so far - developing independently.

Glenigan’s industry research shows that Sovereign is also busy acquiring land and sites ahead of starting planning including the Princes Mead Shopping Centre at Farnborough in Hampshire, where the group plans to develop 350 homes .

Flat out

Home and Sovereign are focused mainly on housing but the other three of the top five housing associations with the largest planning pipelines are seeking to build more flats than houses.

At Peabody Trust, which was ranked fifth, 95% of the units in the group’s planning pipeline were apartments, such as the £30 million Bridgewater Road, development for 173 flats at Wembley, north London 

Overall, 41% of units in the overall planning pipeline for housing associations were flats last year – up from 38% in 2021 - while 52% were houses, which is down from 56%. The balance of units were bungalows, which occupy more land and are less attractive to the commercial partners that housing associations are increasingly seeking to work with.

Major housebuilders are pressing on with applying for planning permission to build more homes despite concerns over the housing market and the wider economy.

Glenigan’s construction research shows that the 10 biggest housebuilders submitted detailed planning applications to build 78,000 new homes last year.

Persimmon led the way with proposals for 13,547 units ranging from plans for 198 houses and flats in Bedford (Project ID: 19188395) to the Burdon Lane development in Sunderland featuring 478 houses and 54 flats (Project ID: 22116884).

Top 10 Private Housebuilders by 2022 planning pipeline

Company	Total Applications	Total Units
Persimmon	96	13,547
Bellway	71	13,302
Taylor Wimpey	69	11,843
Barratt	74	11,149
Redrow	54	7,106
Vistry	36	5,077
Bloor Homes	26	4,748
Miller	23	4,345
St Modwen	11	3,393
Berkeley DeVeer	19	3,248

Source: Glenigan

Bellway grew its planning pipeline by 10% last year with proposals for 13,302 homes including 313 flats at College Way (pictured) in Welwyn Garden City (Project ID: 22189751).

The number of homes in detailed planning applications submitted by Berkeley DeVeer, which owns Avant Homes, surged 28% to 3,248 units ranging from plans for 94 homes at Balderton in Nottinghamshire (Project ID: 17026241) to 150 homes in Walsall (Project ID: 21144894).

St Modwen plans more

St Modwen’s planning pipeline also ballooned as the group embarked on a major expansion programme.

In March 2022, St Modwen, which is owned by investment group Blackstone, outlined plans to double its development programme over the next five years to 2,400 units a year. That ambitious programme is already evident in Glenigan’s data with St Modwen submitting plans to build 3,393 units last year – up from 415 in 2021.

Major St Modwen schemes in the planning system include plans for 205 flats in Longbridge, Birmingham (Project ID: 22288312) and the 1,100 unit West Cheltenham Development (Project ID: 21451969)

Takeover influence

Vistry was ranked sixth after sending in planning applications last year for more than 5,000 homes. This total was boosted by Vistry’s takeover of rival Countryside last November.

Vistry’s overall total included proposals for 1,177 new homes submitted by Countryside, including plans for 119 houses and two flats at Maidstone Road in Ashford, Kent (Project ID: 18035384).

The totals of a number of other residential groups outside of the top 10 were also boosted by takeovers last year according to Glenigan’s market intelligence.

US investment giant Pimco acquired Allison and Larkfleet and the newly enlarged business, trading as Allison Homes, was ranked in 16th position after submitting plans for 1,875 new homes last year. Allison schemes in the planning pipeline include 76 homes at Doddington Lane in Newark (Project ID: 21185535).

Elsewhere, investment group Terra Firma has a pipeline of more than 1,000 homes in planning as it expands its residential development portfolio. In 2021, Tera Firma bought Kier’s housing arm and last year it acquired East Anglian housebuilder Hopkins, which is behind plans for 360 homes at North Walsham (Project ID: 21440810).

Apartments hold up

Overall, Glenigan’s industry research shows that private housebuilders and developers submitted detailed planning applications to build 149,113 new homes last year. This total was down 16% on 2021 as proposals for new houses slumped 19%, but housebuilders are planning to build more flats.

There was an 8% rise in the number of apartments in the planning pipeline, while proposals for retirement homes only fell away marginally, showing that sections of the residential development market remain resilient.

A Derbyshire builder is going trowel-to-towel with ITV’s Love Island in TV award showdown

Stars of the hit BBC reality show Brickies have raised the roof after learning they are shortlisted alongside ITV show Love Island in this year’s Broadcast Awards.

Far from being ‘mortar-fied’ by the prospect of being pitched against one of television’s most popular shows, the brickies at Derby-based Hodgkinson Builders believe they have laid the perfect foundations for claiming victory.

Brickies, a six-part documentary series following a team of young builders at Pride Park-based Hodgkinson Builders, including some from the Erewash borough, became an overnight sensation when it was first aired on BBC Three last Easter.

It was so popular that a second series was immediately commissioned. Brickies II is set to broadcast this spring, this time promoted to the BBC’s flagship channel BBC One.

The prestigious annual Broadcast Awards, which celebrate the best of British television, take place on February 8th at the Grosvenor House Hotel, in London.  

In addition to Love Island, Brickies is shortlisted against four other contenders in the Best Multichannel Programme category of the awards.

Ilkeston man, Ian Hodgkinson, founder and managing director of Hodgkinson Builders, said: “It’s incredible. We could not believe it when we heard that not only are we shortlisted for a TV award, but we are actually up against the humungous Love Island. 

“What a roller coaster year we’ve had! And who’d have thought that a ‘builder’s bum’ from Derby might be up against the those tanned, bikini-clad beauties on the other show!

“But we know that Brickies offers something a bit different – so maybe it’s not quite the David vs Goliath contest that it might appear.”

Ian puts the success of Brickies down to its honesty, and the fact that, through laughter and tears, it adds a real human perspective to the life of a brickie. 

“The real reason we agreed to do the show in the first place was to hopefully encourage more young people to take up apprenticeships, due to the severe skills shortage in the UK construction industry,” said Ian.

“The success of the show suggests we’ve done some good in that area. As far as we are concerned, just the fact we’ve been shortlisted means we’ve already won, whether or not we manage to clinch the top award next month.” 

Tina Clough, managing director of Poppy PR, which counts Hodgkinson Builders among its list of clients, said: “It doesn’t get much better than this, when one of your clients hits the headlines in such a massive way.

“Some people find Love Island quite shocking in places – but it’s not nearly as shocking as learning that a team of builders from Derby might actually outshine one of the nation’s best-known series.” 

Ian’s team of brickies were so gobsmacked at being nominated alongside Love Island that they agreed to put their own spin on the momentous occasion by donning swimsuits in a tongue-in-cheek photoshoot at MKM Building Supplies in Pride Park, Derby.

Ian added: “They really showed their character. It seemed like a fun idea, but I can’t believe my guys and girls were actually up for it – stripping down on a freezing January morning in Derby. It definitely seemed a million miles from where Love Island is filmed in sun-drenched Majorca!”  

Hodgkinson Builders, which launched in 1990, is no stranger to the limelight. In 2016, Ian led a group of young brickies to Parliament, where they built a wall beneath Big Ben to encourage more young people to consider bricklaying as a career.