Developer HUB and Bridges Fund Management, a specialist sustainable and impact investor, have acquired a prominent and vacant 4.5 acre brownfield site that is adjacent to Bath city centre for £18.5m, with plans to transform it into a high quality housing-led scheme as the final piece in the wider regeneration of the Bath Western Riverside enterprise area.
The comprehensive redevelopment of the Bath site will deliver a significant number of BTR and affordable homes, alongside commercial spaces and improved public realm, creating a new mixed-use asset for the city. The proposals will respond to growing and unmet renter demand in Bath, a desirable high growth city with only four BTR schemes currently.
The scheme will offer waterside living, adjacent to the River Avon and several other new developments. The site has a prime location, with two bridge connections to the city centre and situated just an 8-minute walk to central Bath, 17-minutes to Bath Spa station, and 13-minutes to Oldfield Park station.
A major focus for the scheme will be minimising environmental impact with a highly efficient energy strategy targeting EPC A, onsite renewables, and full whole life-cycle carbon assessment throughout the development process.
The increasing demand for high quality and professionally managed homes in Bath is due to its desirability and vibrancy, fed in part by an exceptional university, strong graduate retention, its proximity to Bristol and excellent transport connections to London.
Capitalising on what is one of a limited number of development opportunities in central Bath, plans will reflect HUB’s unique position in the market as a champion of next-generation BTR and its expertise in the living sector with more than 7,000 homes completed or under development.
Build-to-rent continues to demonstrate resilience and ongoing appeal as an investment opportunity, and this scheme adds to HUB’s growing pipeline, which will see the completion of over 1,000 BTR homes across three sites in the next six months. This is HUB’s fourteenth deal in partnership with Bridges, with the pair on course to deliver over 4,000 homes across a number of living-led developments throughout the UK.
Damien Sharkey, Managing Director of HUB, said:
“Bath has a demonstrated need for high quality, professionally managed rental homes and this site provides an exciting opportunity to deliver these. HUB creates next generation BTR communities which bring value to existing residents, improving the wider neighbourhoods and cities they’re located in. Together with Bridges we look forward to delivering this project for Bath and its residents, while bringing new life to the disused site through our first investment in the city.
We will be developing designs in collaboration with the local community to ensure we deliver according to their needs and will be exploring opportunities for meanwhile use of the site in the coming months.“
Simon Ringer, Head of Property Funds at Bridges Fund Management, said:
“We know from our previous developments with HUB that there is a strong unmet demand for high-quality, sustainably built living space in our major cities. We are looking forward to bringing this vacant site in Bath back into use, and working with the local community to design attractive, sustainable homes – in line with Bridges’s continued focus on needs-driven opportunities where there is proven demand from both occupiers and investors for the future-proofed assets that we create.“
CBRE advised HUB and Bridges on the acquisition.
Knight Frank advised the seller.
