Royal London backs first phase of major Wolverhampton regeneration

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has forward-funded a 331-home build-to-rent development in Wolverhampton, providing institutional backing for the first phase of the city’s wider Smithgate regeneration scheme.

The Bicycle Works development will form the first phase of Smithgate, a planned mixed-use neighbourhood on a 12-acre brownfield site in Wolverhampton city centre.

The wider masterplan is targeting more than 1,000 homes alongside new public spaces and 20,000 sq ft of retail and commercial accommodation. It is being delivered by ECF, a partnership between Homes England’s National Housing Bank, L&G and Muse, working with City of Wolverhampton Council.

RLAM has completed the forward-funding of Bicycle Works through its Living Fund. The transaction represents the fund’s seventh build-to-rent investment and will take its portfolio to 1,577 BTR homes once the schemes are completed.

Bicycle Works will comprise 331 one- and two-bedroom apartments across three buildings on a two-acre site. The development, around a ten-minute walk from Wolverhampton railway station and connected to local tram and bus networks, will also provide communal landscaped areas, resident amenities and cycle storage.

The scheme has been designed to operate without fossil fuels and incorporates measures intended to reduce embodied carbon. Practical completion is scheduled for the second quarter of 2028.

The investment adds the West Midlands to RLAM’s growing residential portfolio, following BTR acquisitions in Slough, Bracknell, Barking and Watford. The asset manager also entered the single-family housing sector in Manchester in July this year.

Paul Ruston, Living Fund Manager at Royal London Asset Management, said the investment strengthened the firm’s presence in the living sector and reflected its focus on “professionally managed private rented homes in suburban and commuter markets where there is an identified need”.

The homes will be managed by ProperTies Living, RLAM’s residential operating platform, with Bicycle Works becoming its first scheme in the Midlands.

For Wolverhampton, the investment represents an early step in the delivery of a much larger city-centre regeneration programme. The Smithgate masterplan is intended to transform underused brownfield land into a predominantly residential neighbourhood while adding commercial uses and public realm.

Councillor Stephen Simkins, leader of City of Wolverhampton Council, said the investment formed part of a wider strategy focused on connectivity, housing, employment and the city-centre economy.

Basit Ali, development director at ECF, said RLAM’s investment recognised the “long-term opportunity at Smithgate and its regeneration potential”, adding that construction of Bicycle Works was progressing.

RLAM is also involved in the large-scale Waterbeach New Town East regeneration project in Cambridgeshire through the Waterbeach Development Company, a joint venture with Aquila Investments and Turnstone Estates. That scheme is planned to deliver 4,500 homes on the former RAF Waterbeach site.