Goodstone Living has secured planning permission from Birmingham City Council for its first build-to-rent residential scheme enabling the development of 550 new rental homes.

The four acre site is located in Digbeth, a short walk from Birmingham New Street and Curzon Street (HS2) train stations and the Bullring shopping Centre and retail quarter.

Designed by Darling Associate Architects, the approved plans are for six residential buildings arranged around over an acre of private gardens and will also include approximately 22,000 square feet of shared internal amenity space consisting of a concierge, fully equipped gym, co-working office space, private dining rooms and rooftop terraces. In-line with our ambition to create ‘bigger and better homes’, the scheme will also provide generously sized one, two and three bedroom apartments which considerably exceed the minimum size standards required by Birmingham City Council.

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Goodstone Living is focused on delivering its decarbonisation strategy for this project which includes reducing the embodied carbon during construction by more than 30% using off-site volumetric modular construction and reducing operational carbon by more than 50% by implementing the latest heating and enhanced building fabric technologies. There are a range of social value initiatives also planned including offering the commercial space at 50% discounted rent to catalyse local business growth. In addition, all of the buildings have been designed to be future-proofed for fire safety by incorporating dual means of emergency escape.

The equity funding for the project has been secured from a number of UK and international real estate investors, including Northern LGPS (Local Government Pension Scheme pool of Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Merseyside Pension Funds). The design and procurement of the scheme is currently underway with construction expected to commence in Q1 2023.

Martin Bellinger, Principal at Goodstone Living said: "Birmingham's BTR market is hugely competitive, which puts the onus on developers and investors to keep raising the bar of what renters can expect. Our Birmingham scheme is an excellent illustration of that in action, with the city’s largest private garden, low site coverage, and an unwavering focus on how we can create, foster and enhance local communities through thoughtful design and investment.

"Birmingham is the UK's second largest city by population, and with a growing cohort of residents coming to the city there is a clear need to deliver high quality purpose-built and professionally managed rental accommodation."