Proposal unveiled for first 'commuter town' Build To Rent development

International development firm Westrock has given details of what it calls “the first homes designed specifically for rent in a key commuter town in the south east of England.”

The former Merton Centre office building in central Bedford is to become a Build To Rent scheme with 157 flats appealing to professionals working for major employers such as Sainsbury’s (which has a major distribution centre nearby) and Unilever (which has large research centres locally).

The first residents will be able to move in the early summer. 

Westrock has a pipeline of more than 1,400 Build To Rent units in the UK with five schemes set to be completed this year.

Meanwhile Grainger Plc, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord and property management company, has given details of its first Build To Rent development, to be known as Abbeville Apartments in Barking, east London. This will have 100 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for long-term tenants.

Grainger says it will invest over £850m into the Build To Rent sector by 2020. 

It will use software developed by Qube Global Software which says it has become the first UK-based provider to develop a single software package that allows institutional developers to run their entire property operation,  from attracting tenants and processing tenancies to long term maintenance and financial management of their schemes.