UK real estate fund manager Moorfield Group has entered into an agreement with Melberry Developments and Funding House for the development of a 293-bed purpose-built student accommodation scheme in Lincoln, UK.
The investment, which will be made by Moorfield Real Estate Fund V, is a £42 mln (€48 mln) GDV scheme, set to complete in 2024. It will include townhouses and cluster flats across almost 90,000 ft2 and seven buildings ranging from one to four storeys, as well as landscaped gardens.
Moorfield and Melberry will target a Breeam Very Good rating for the scheme, which will be delivered by contractor Bowmer + Kirkland on a turn-key arrangement.
The development is the second purpose-built student accommodation scheme to be delivered by Moorfield and Melberry, following the completion of the 282 bed Enso in July 2023. Taking less than two years to complete, Enso achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating and is fully-let to students from the University of Colchester.
It is also the second scheme to be delivered by the Zennor partnership, where Moorfield and Funding House Limited – which supports across origination and deal structuring - provide de-risked funding opportunities in the living sectors. An agreement for the Apiary, an 81 home co-living scheme in Ealing, West London, was completed in February 2022.
Moorfield has delivered around 5,000 beds through Domain, its purpose-built student accommodation development and operational platform, which was established in 1997.
A further 2,000+ beds are being aggregated through Moorfield’s joint venture with We Are Kin, a partnership that is improving the experience of student accommodation in existing houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). These will form part of Moorfield’s private real estate investment trust, MREIT, which launched in September of this year and will target the single-family housing and student houses for multiple occupation residential-for-rent sub sectors.
Moorfield’s other residential strategies include multi-family build-to-rent housing, co-living, retirement living and nursing homes.
Charles Ferguson-Davie, Chief Investment Officer at Moorfield Group, commented: 'We have been investing in student housing for over twenty years and investor confidence in the sector remains resilient, with domestic and international investors keen to increase their exposure to an undersupplied asset class offering risk-adjusted returns and long-term income streams. We see a market opportunity in new-build development and refurbishment of existing stock, with both strategies responding to investor demand for high-quality assets with leading ESG credentials.'
