Build-to-rent can drive the sustainability and wellbeing agendas

With the investment community and governments across the world united in their commitment to the net zero agenda, there has been an undoubted step change in the way the real estate industry approaches sustainability. Scarcely a property conference goes by without at least one talk or panel session on what implementing ESG looks like in practice.

In a similar vein, the role the built environment can play in supporting public health - both mental and physical - has been put to the forefront in the wake of Covid-19.

In many respects, commercial real estate has been ahead of residential when it comes to considering the impact new developments can have on the natural environment and people’s wellbeing.

A large part of this has been down to the fact that o ces were ahead of the curve when it came to the operationalisation of real estate, which has changed the way the industry interacts with consumers.

WeWork was arguably the first property brand to break into mainstream consciousness. While the co-working operator has now become synonymous with VC-fuelled excess, the company’s overt embrace of environmental causes and focus on wellness - however genuine - is a trend we are now beginning to see in residential real estate.

In many ways this is surprising this did not happen sooner. Residential properties are responsible for between 17-21% of energy-related carbon emissions globally, and given home is where we sleep, eat and socialise, has a huge influence on our overall health and wellbeing.

Top-down pressure from government, regulators and investors combined with bottom-up pressure from consumers is forcing the residential industry to put a greater emphasis on sustainability, and to a lesser extent, wellbeing.

This change in behaviour and attitudes can be seen in volume housebuilders, who continue to deliver the bulk of new housing supply. However, it is in the living sectors where we can see the greatest progress.

Whether it is in build-to-rent, co-living or student accommodation, branded operators are realising the importance of treating their residents more like customers, and that means responding to changing attitudes around the environment and mental health. It is not the landlord and tenant relationship of old, quite the opposite, we are here to service our customers.

Across both our multi-family pipeline with Moda and single-family pipeline with Present Made, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apache Capital, sustainability and wellbeing is considered at every stage, from design through to operations.

At Present Made of Eddington, which is being delivered in partnership with the University as part of North West Cambridge masterplan, there will be 373 rental homes alongside a range of shared amenities. These will include a communal pavilion, gym, yoga studio, private dining room, bike café, children’s playgrounds and games room, cinema and co-working space.

The Present Made team will provide round-the-clock professional onsite management, responsible for all maintenance as well as running a year-long calendar of social and wellbeing activities. These will include zero waste pop-ups, cycling and running clubs, cultural celebrations, live music, art classes, cooking classes, charitable events and talks from inspirational people.

While so far unique in the UK’s emerging single-family sector, this amenity-rich, service-driven approach has been hugely successful at our operational multifamily schemes with Moda, where the on-site teams have managed to engender a genuine sense of community among residents. As proven in the States, community creation is crucial to driving retention rates, reducing costly void periods.

Present Made of Eddington also has a ‘people before cars’ master-plan, with expansive green spaces and liveable streets to encourage meaningful moments between residents and health and fitness, while ecology corridors and edible gardens will support the local biodiversity of the area.

There are obvious physical and mental health benefits to be had by access to plentiful green space, community activities, edible gardens, or shared spaces that facilitate a fusion of cultures, ages and backgrounds.

The homes themselves will be precision engineered and manufactured in a factory-like environment, in a process less wasteful and disruptive than traditional construction techniques. Modern methods of construction are crucial to meeting Present Made’s net zero operational carbon target, by delivering homes that are more energy e cient. In today’s inflationary environment, energy sourced from sustainable providers, and at a reduced cost, are an important benefit to our customers. We are also looking into how smart technology can be integrated to further reduce the environmental footprint of Present Made homes.

More important however is we expect the environmental credentials of Present Made developments to be a crucial consideration for our customers. Again, this has been demonstrated at our multifamily schemes with Moda, where we have had hugely positive feedback from residents, who have seen tangible financial benefits from living in a high quality, modern development that has been designed from the ground up for rent.

We see the emergence of purpose-built rental housing, which we have been at the vanguard of through Present Made and Moda, as a huge opportunity to transform consumers’ perception of the residential property industry - for the better.