Enfield Council is looking for build-to-rent investment to bring forward the next phase of its £6bn regeneration at Meridian Water.
The council wants an investor to forward-fund up to 500 of the 804 homes at Meridian Four.
A deal will accelerate housing delivery and diversify tenures. The council will directly deliver the scheme in a move to recoup returns and capital receipts to pay interest on the debt from earlier phases.
Enfield is expected to lodge detailed plans for Meridian Four this month, with a construction start targeted for the third quarter of next year.
Initial appraisals for BTR in the outline planning application lodged in 2019 assume a value of £476 per sq ft, totalling £93m for 249 BTR homes. However, this could now double as the council boosts BTR as a more resilient tenure in the current climate.
Enfield is also looking to sell land at Meridian Three for the development of 500-600 student co-living bedrooms across two blocks, with a further block of 75 homes to be delivered by the council. Meanwhile uses are under consideration for this site in case of reduced developer demand during the pandemic.
The council has begun soft market testing with investors and developers for Three and Four ahead of a launch later this month. Initial suggestions of 1,566 BTR homes were not well received in the market given that only a handful of developers would be able to take on a project of such scale. The council has also explored options including affordable homes, but noted this would limit bidders to only registered providers.
The £6bn regeneration will deliver 10,000 homes alongside public space, community facilities and road and rail networks over 25 years. However, it has been slow to get off the ground.
The Meridian Water project was first mooted in 2011, when the council began seeking investment partners to build 5,000 homes. It became master developer in 2018 after a series of partnerships fell apart.
It has since selected Vistry Partnerships to deliver 950 homes at Meridian One and a further 270 at Meridian Two. Housing association Catalyst will acquire and manage the affordable homes at Meridian Two.
Enfield is also working on a wider masterplan focused on enhanced design, space and amenity provision.
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