Home developer Watkin Jones agrees £155m forward sale of a build-to-rent project in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter
- It will consist of 627 owner-occupied homes and 81 ‘social rental homes’
- They will be built in what was part of the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast
- The riverside urban development is Belfast’s first build-to-rent project
Shares of Watkin Jones rose today after the struggling housing developer agreed the forward sale of a built-to-let project in Belfast’s iconic Titanic Quarter.
Legal & General and Clanmil Housing Association will pay £155 million to Watkin Jones and will take ownership of the development, called Loft Lines, upon completion.
It will consist of 627 rental homes and 81 ‘social rental homes’ built on the site of the former Harland and Wolff shipyard.
What It Will Look Like: A CGI of riverside urban development, Loft Lines
Watkin Jones shareswhich fell to a record low last month after it warned about £15m in profits will be deferred to the next financial year, rose 6 per cent to 72.4 pence in early trading on Monday.
However, the shares – floating at 100p in March 2016 – have lost nearly 30 percent of their value since the start of the year and are down about 68 percent compared to 12 months ago.
The riverside urban development, Belfast’s first build-to-rent project, is part of one of the largest waterside regeneration sites in Europe, the company said.
It will consist of a mix of one, two and three bedroom apartments, including facilities such as a gym, dedicated home work space, podium gardens and terraces, and will comprise approximately 11,000 square feet of commercial space.
“The development will help to further catalyze the regeneration of Queens Island, in addition to helping transform life in Belfast city center, bringing attractive residential housing to the area for the first time and significantly boosting the local economy,” it said. company.
Construction work will start before the end of the year and completion is expected in the summer of 2026.
Watkin Jones chief executive Richard Simpson added: ‘This is further evidence of the attractive investment and operating fundamentals of both BTR as an industry and Belfast as a city and a good sign of the reopening of capital markets.’
Andrew Kail, CEO of Legal & General Retirement Institutiona, said: ‘We are delighted to announce our BTR development in Belfast, the largest residential investment in Northern Ireland.
“This important milestone is a great example of how we invest in socially useful, economically attractive assets and use retirement savings to create vibrant and sustainable living environments.”
The deal comes after Watkin Jones posted a first-half loss last month as revenues fell and costs rose.
Sales fell by a fifth to £153.9m in the six months to the end of March after no new forward sales were completed.
The group also said at the time that due to the difficult market conditions, it had opted not to move pipeline assets more quickly to our balance sheet in order to prepare them for sale.
However, it predicted a stronger material performance in the second half of the fiscal year, supported by a rebound in forward sales.