Legal & General Affordable Homes' acquisition of 487 homes in Perry Barr from Birmingham City Council completed at the end of the year just in time to earn its CoStar Impact Award for sale/acquisition of the year in the West Midlands.
It's easy to see why real estate professional judges were particularly impressed by what is one of the Legal & General affordable homes business's largest acquisitions to date.
The sale of Plots 7 and 8's newly built homes by the council, advised by Avison Young, is a critical one for what are ambitious regeneration plans for the Perry Barr area of Birmingham. Those plans are ultimately for a neighbourhood with over 5,000 new homes and infrastructure as well as commercial.
About the project:
Legal & General Affordable Homes' acquisition has been funded by Legal & General Institutional Retirement and forms part of the platform's commitment to creating affordable housing options across the UK. Notably LGAH is strategic partner of government housing agency Homes Agency and the homes are mostly rated EPC B.
The site sits next to a Birmingham City University residential development on Franchise Street and offers 187 homes for affordable rent, 159 for shared ownership and 139 for social rent. It has already won awards for its design, but the sale of Blocks 7 and 8 is a major milestone in terms of securing external institutional investment.
What the judges said:
"A regeneration project to provide new housing to the community, with the funding secured by L&G plus the external investment for the rest of the vision to continue," said Dawn Cooper, partner, operational, Bromwich Hardy.
"This scheme has been ongoing for some time and in the current context of the supply of housing, particularly affordable housing, is a critical scheme," added Robert Csondor, managing director, RCA Regeneration.
They made it happen:
Avison Young was the vendor agent. Joe Williams, director, Mark Birks, principal and Lucy Hancock, associate director, all in the land and development team, worked on the deal. For the vendor's solicitor, Burges Salmon – Amber Liu, senior associate and Ross Polkinghorne, partner. The buyer's agent was Savills and William Pearce, associate director, and George Chanin, analyst, worked on the deal. Hannah Jackson, partner, and, Jeremy Hunt, partner, Trowers & Hamlins, were the buyer's solicitor.
