Resi wrap: London Square’s evolving capital plans

Welcome to your weekly round-up of residential stories from EG. Ten years ago, former Barratt regional chairman Adam Lawrence signed a £100m deal on the back of a Sotheby’s paper napkin to fund a London development company. London Square initially launched as a for-sale residential developer with funding from Graphite Capital. Lawrence later brought on Ares Management, and has continued to diversity capital streams through partnerships with the public sector, affordable housing – and now build-to-rent. The developer’s annual results this week reveal another business arm, London Square Living, that will secure forward funding for rental schemes in the capital. Lawrence said: “Every prospective new site is now viewed through three lens for its potential – private for sale, affordable or build-to-rent – or a mix of all three tenures.” Expect BTR demand from Long Harbour, which has £1bn in Canadian pension fund finance to spend. Long Harbour will target forward funding and direct development opportunities in London and the South East, after deploying £500m in two years. Lack of funds hasn’t deterred co-living giant The Collective. While the company has been seeking a company sale to reap finance as debt mounts, it has also been pursuing new development. The Collective has lodged plans for a 376-bed co-living scheme to replace a Yodel warehouse in Hayes, next to U+I’s Old Vinyl Factory. For Regal London, the bulk of private homes at its latest scheme in Wembley will remain for-sale. The developer has unveiled plans for The Waterside after buying the site from Dominvs. And while neighbours Quintain, Access Self Storage and Telford are all tapping BTR, Regal sees demand from home buyers in the area. And, finally, the private consortium behind a new £1.3bn town centre at Purfleet-on-Thames in Essex has launched a hunt for finance seeking £1bn in debt and equity. The joint venture between Urban Catalyst, Swan Housing and Keltbray aims to build a 2,850-home community – to include BTR and a 1m sq ft media hub – and has appointed Knight Frank to secure the funding. View the magazine, download the app (iOS and Android) and read on for more of the week’s headlines: The EG Interview: Grosvenor’s Dickie on expanding the estate across the regions A new kind of BTR product is needed to unlock value from university towns Regions call for Whitehall action in ‘levelling up’ L&G and NatWest to invest £500m in later living Hammerson plans to ‘reshape entire neighbourhoods’ Does Hammerson’s new strategy go far enough? Lloyds partners with UK’s biggest housebuilder Renaker consults on 60-storey Trinity Islands tower PAG and Starwood propose Renaissance resi tower Scarborough unveils next phase of £1bn Middlewood Locks Southern Grove adds to Truman Brewery PBSA TopHat puts McLaren man in financial driving seat Berkeley makes £400m green bond debut Monaco developer plans £100m Kensington luxury flats Aitch drops £60m for land deals Taylor Wimpey expects top profits as margins hit record highs Connells reaps rewards of Countrywide buy Bellway joins Chichester Shopwhyke resi rush