The build-to-rent industry has an “unarguable” role to play in promoting the regeneration needed in the UK’s levelling up agenda, according to one of the authors of a new white paper exploring the sector’s growth.
Ian Barnett (pictured), national land director at property services company Leaders Romans Group, wrote in the new white paper that BTR suburban communities “have considerable potential to instigate regeneration throughout the country”.
“Initially London accounted for the majority of the BTR pipeline,” Barnett said in BTR suburban communities: The next stage in the evolution of build-to-rent. “Recently, however, the momentum has swung towards the regions… Until recently, growth outside London has largely been confined to cities – Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham being the most popular – and the BTR schemes not located in urban centres tended to be situated close to transport infrastructure, facilitating convenient access to city centres. However, as young families increasingly look to rent, rather than buy, the demand for BTR suburban communities outside the major cities is increasing.”
Barnett described the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill as “the key piece of legislation impacting BTR development”.
He added: “The opportunity for BTR, as a relatively nascent sector, is to lobby for its interests to be represented within the emerging policies… it is unarguable that BTR has the power to support levelling up.”
But legislation will need to adapt in order to support BTR’s regenerative potential, he said, noting that “few local authorities have yet incorporated BTR in planning policy”.
“The evolution of BTR is outpacing policy. For the full potential of BTR to be realised in the context of levelling up, emerging legislation must adapt to, and reflect, this considerable change in demand.”
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