A new housing development called Eutopia Homes has been launched by Scott Hammond, one of the co-founders of Essential Living, the UK's first build-to-rent developer and operator.

The new venture has been launched with £365m development pipeline containing homes for sale and rent in key regional cities.

Hammond, managing director of Essential Living between 2012 and 2017, has acquired sites in Greater Manchester, Exeter and Birmingham for his Eutopia Homes brand. The firm's strategy is to focus on delivering mid-market homes across a range of tenures close to transport hubs.

Eutopia Homes' latest project is a £105m scheme in Salford that will deliver 500 homes offering a mix of build-to-rent and market-sale apartments spread across two adjacent plots in the inner-city Ordsall area with waterside views.

This area is currently seeing a boom in development, with 1,250 residential units in planning. Eutopia's 2.8 acre site rests on the banks of the River Irwell, a short distance east of MediaCityUK, and will appeal to young professionals working there or who have recently graduated from Manchester's four major universities.


Eutopia's £130m Exeter site will deliver 104 houses and 66 apartments for sale, 230 build-to-rent homes and a 65-bed retirement community across 15 acres of land acquired from Network Rail. Subject to planning in the new year, start on-site is expected Q3 2020.

In Digbeth, Birmingham, Eutopia has submitted plans for £130m mixed-use scheme featuring a 167-bed hotel, affordable workspace and 480 homes on a four-acre site acquired from Mucklow plc. The site is occupied by engineering firm Sulzer, who are moving to a new purpose-built facility in Q2 2020.

Darling Associates are the architects across all three projects.

Scott Hammond, founder and CEO at Eutopia Homes, said: "UK regional cities are attracting swathes of investment, thanks to rising student retention rates, improving culture and leisure scenes and new employment opportunities driven by major corporates moving operations outside of London. By creating mixed-tenure developments, we can help create genuine communities, accelerate delivery and de-risk development while meeting a range of housing needs."

Tomas Pierce, Director from Darling Associates said: "We are delighted to be working with Scott on an exciting new brand that promises to raise the bar for housing across the regions. Having recently expanded into Manchester, we have an extremely strong presence across the north-west, and are able to commit some amazing local talent to many of the exciting regeneration schemes that are now spreading out around the country.

"Considerable investment is continuing to flow into build to rent, and the improving regional economy is supporting the housing for sale market across Manchester. Eutopia's exciting blend of tenures and its focus on high quality design for the mid market is the right product for the right time."

(MH/JG)