Major milestone for first homes in 800m rental property partnership

The first apartments to be built in Sheffield as part of an £800m investment programme for new rental properties across England have reached the highest point of the build.

A ‘topping out’ celebration was held at the new £2.7million three-storey development, on land off Park Grange Road, with representatives from Sigma Capital Group plc, Sheffield Housing Company (SHC) and Keepmoat Regeneration, part of the ENGIE Group, to celebrate the milestone.

From September this year, the 24 two-bedroom apartments otherwise known as ‘Park Grange House’ in Norfolk Park, will be available for private rent, brought to the market by Sigma’s Simple Life private rented sector (PRS) brand.

Simple Life allows tenants to enjoy the flexibility and freedom of purpose-built rental properties, expertly managed for total peace of mind. This new development is part of a wider investment with Sigma Capital Group plc to deliver a target of 5,000 high quality new homes for private rental across the country by 2021.

The new apartments available for reservation this month, are located near the city centre, and offer a high design specification,spacious living areas, open plan aspects, integrated appliances and allocated parking spaces. Given their location being close to excellent transport links and local amenities, they are expected to strongly appeal to both young professionals and young families.

Nathan Brough, Regional Director for Keepmoat Regeneration, said: “We are very pleased to have reached this important milestone with our partners Sigma and Sheffield Housing Company. The construction of these high-quality new rental homes are the first of what we hope will be many to come in the PRS market.

“Increasing house prices are making home ownership less viable with people now actively seeking to rent property. The PRS market has seen a huge increase in recent years and as such demand for private rental properties is expected to grow, with figures suggesting that by 2027 a third of all homes will be privately rented.”

Rachel Hoy, Development Manager at Sigma Capital, said: “We are very excited about this new scheme – not only is this our first PRS scheme with Keepmoat Regeneration, cementing our partnership together, this is also our first scheme in Sheffield, to which we feel will be a great success. We are looking forward to bringing these stunning properties to the rental market and to broadening our Simple Life brand presence with further developments in the Yorkshire area in the near future.”

John Clephan, Project Director with SHC, said: “We have been working with our partners - the city council, Keepmoat Regeneration and Great Places for almost six years now and have developed over 350 homes for sale and affordable rent. This project with Sigma will now add private rented properties to the local housing mix.

“In addition to providing these much needed homes, the project at Norfolk Park is supporting job creation and investment with local suppliers. Already SHC has supported 41 apprenticeships, created 150 jobs and invested 8.25M into the local economy.”

Keepmoat Regeneration is constructing the apartments on behalf of Sheffield Housing Company and Sigma Capital Group plc. The lettings and property management of the apartments will be undertaken by SDL Bigwood and WYG are appointed employers agent by Sigma.