UK: DTZ Investors has forward-funded The Collective’s 260-unit coliving scheme on Chatfield Road in Battersea, south London.
The scheme will provide 35 per cent affordable housing, which will be available to rent by people with starting salaries of £22,000 per annum or less.
Chief executive at DTZ Investors, Chris Cooper, said: “Co-living as a sector has been remarkably resilient during the pandemic. The desire for human connection remains very strong and demand is highest in buildings that combine high quality living spaces with a wide range of communal amenities.
“The acquisition of The Collective Battersea marks another vital step toward fulfilling the investment strategy of our dedicated co-living investment vehicle, which now has a completed GDV of over £200 million. Once fully capitalised, the fund’s portfolio of co-living buildings in prime locations across the capital will be home to 3,500 people. As well as providing shared spaces for people to spend time with one another and helping to tackle the loneliness problem, we are giving back through The Collective and the fund’s Community Investment Programme to support local social, environmental and charitable projects.”
The Collective’s founder and CEO Reza Merchant added: “We’re pleased to close this deal with DTZ Investors and the COLIV fund – a further demonstration of institutional demand for our vertically integrated co-living model. We strongly believe consumer demand for our product to be counter-cyclical, and we’re pleased to see this validated in the current challenging economic climate. We’ve seen continued robust enquiries and bookings across our portfolio throughout the pandemic, driven by consumers’ increasing prioritisation of value for money, convenience and human connection in their choice of home. The Collective Battersea will be one of a number of our projects to go into construction in central London in 2021, all offering one-of-a-kind shared spaces, an inspiring events programme, and a vibrant community to call home. Our mission is to build a global network of spaces that enable people to lead more fulfilling lives and positively impact the neighbourhoods they’re part of, and this highly sustainable development with subsidised rents for local people is another big step on our journey.”
