The UK’s second-largest student accommodation operator, Homes for Students, is expanding into build-to-rent in a new joint venture partnership with Navana Property Group.
The pair have teamed up to launch VervLife. The venture will provide BTR specialist support for developers and investors – from site acquisition, branding and design consultancy through to lettings and operational management.
The business brings together Homes for Students’ established operational structure, supporting 30,000 beds, with Navana’s focus on proptech and customer experience.
VervLife will be led by Katherine Rose as managing director. Rose has over 12 years’ experience in real estate, with specialisms in build-to-rent and single family housing, through recent roles leading divisions at PRSim and Navana.
She has worked with clients including Hearthstone and Annington and joined Navana shortly after its launch in 2019, to grow its BTR and PRS offering.
Rose told EG: “We are seeing more and more investment into the industry and we are seeing people move from student.
“There are so many similarities between student operations and build-to-rent. Investors are really saying in locations where they’ve had student schemes, they are now wanting to do BTR. The partnership with Homes for Students is perfect for that, they’ve already got boots on the ground.”
VervLife will support investors in BTR, including urban and suburban single family housing. The white label solution is designed around simplicity, offering the flexibility to cater to high-end city centre skyscrapers, new BTR in university cities and rental housing.
“There is room for bells and whistles and high amenity space, but we are also seeing people renting for longer – it is a lifestyle choice. There has got to be something in the market for everybody, whether it is a Waitrose or a Lidl,” added Rose.
The platform is working towards B Corp accreditation and Navana was also one of the first UK property operators to contribute to the Immune building standards, tailoring the global certification for residential building.
Rose said: “There are huge synergies across the two companies. With Navana being tech-led and customer centric the partnership just slots together, it is seamless.”
Brent Stojanovic, one of the original co-founders of Navana, has also joined VervLife as a director. The team will be supported by Martin Corbett, chief executive of Homes for Students, and Kelly Bream, chief operating officer and co-founder of Navana, who are also directors.
Corbett said: “By drawing on Homes for Students’ experience and nationwide footprint, VervLife can scale at speed. Leveraging this existing supply chain, the business will unlock development value for clients across the UK.”
Rose added: “We’re out of the starting blocks really quickly here. We just see it as a really buoyant market at the moment. We have grand ambitions to grow over the next year to 18 months, across multi-family and single family. We’re looking at scaling, and scaling quickly.”
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