Legal & General has co-invested with Dutch asset manager PGGM to buy a build-to-rent (BTR) scheme in London.
The UK insurer said LGIM Real Assets on behalf of its BTR fund, together with Legal & General Capital and the €218bn Dutch asset manager has acquired the Macbean site in Woolwich.
No financial details were disclosed.
The scheme, which is subject to planning approval, is expected to deliver over 650 new homes, together with 21,000sqft of commercial space and a new public square.
The development will comprise both private and affordable rental homes.
Macbean is L&G’s third BTR scheme in London, with existing developments progressing in Walthamstow and Croydon.
In total, L&G has a BTR pipeline of around 3,000 homes across nine schemes countrywide and plans to have 6,000 homes in planning, development or operation by the end of 2019.
James Lidgate, a director of housing at Legal & General Capital, said: “This latest development, our largest BTR acquisition to date, is another step forward for Legal & General in its ambitions to tackle the severe housing shortage that the UK is facing, helping to address the significant supply and demand imbalance – both in the Borough of Greenwich and across London as a whole.”
In 2016, PGGM joined L&G’s direct investments arm in a partnership to invest £600m (€678.7m) in the construction of 3,000 homes in the UK.
As at May last year, the partnership had secured five UK city regeneration schemes.
Mathieu Elshout, a senior director of private real estate at PGGM, said: “As a responsible investor of Dutch pension capital, it is our ambition to build long-term partnerships with prominent UK real estate players, investing in sustainable developments with a positive impact on the build environment over the long term.
“Our growing BTR venture with Legal & General is delivering on this goal, adding quality stock within areas, such as Woolwich, which are suffering from a severe lack of housing stock, whilst supporting wider urban regeneration.”
