UK: ULN editor George Sell attended a press breakfast hosted by living sector developer and operator Moda, in advance of the opening of the company’s Embassy Boulevard BTR scheme in Vauxhall/Nine Elms, south London.
Managing director Johnny Caddick discussed a wide range of industry issues. Here are some of the key takeaways.
• Moda’s sister company Caddick Developments built Sky Gardens, the first residential tower in Nine Elms, while Embassy Boulevard marks the last parcel of land on the former Royal Mail site in the area.
• The company is asset-class agnostic but wants to put the right product on the right site, whether it is BTR, SFR, coliving or PBSA. The company has planning for its first coliving scheme, is developing an amenity-light lower price point BTR product and is advancing its single-family housing platform Casa by Moda.
• For the Casa by Moda SFR offer, the company has so far bought stock from housebuilders, but can also build future SFR units itself, through the Caddick Construction subsidiary.
• Viability is a serious challenge – a combination of costs (development finance, labour, materials etc), and legislation (Building Safety Act, Renters Rights Act) are constant hurdles, but the company is confident in the living sector’s fundamentals and says its investors have a similar long-term view.
• Although office-to-resi conversion are becoming more prominent, suitable office assets are not coming to market frequently enough to make this a viable strategy for Moda, which remains firmly focused on new-build.
• Moda manages the affordable element of its neighbourhoods itself. The allocation varies between sites. At Embassy Boulevard there will be 30 discount market rent (DMR) units, pepper-potted throughout the scheme with all resident benefits included.
