Chapman Taylor participates in the Bisnow Build-to-Rent Annual Conference

Several Chapman Taylor Residential team members, led by Director Tom Klingholz, attended the annual Bisnow Build-to-Rent conference at the Hilton London Wembley Hotel in London on 22 May, where Director Michael Swiszczowski spoke as part of a panel discussion on ‘BTR v3.0: The Evolution of The Unit’.

With institutional investors and the government pouring billions into the Build-to-Rent sector, the Bisnow annual conference brought together key industry professionals and experts from across the world to discuss the future of the Build-to-Rent phenomenon and to swap insights gained from experience so far.

The panel, in which Michael was joined by Johnny Caddick of Moda Living, Mike Altman of Cortland Partners and Iain Murray of LIV (moderated by Adrian Bland of Shakespeare Martineau), discussed the purposes of the sector, particularly about how there is more than one model. Up until now, the focus has been on young professionals in major city centres, but it was pointed out that there is great scope for creating popular Build-to-Rent developments in smaller cities and towns as well as in suburban areas. In this way, Build-to-Rent could provide a solution for those with young families and downsizing retirees who feel let down by the traditional rental model or who cannot afford to buy.

Michael brought up the role that off-site, modular construction has to play in the Build-to-Rent sector, helping to smooth over the development timeline ‘speedbumps’ that can spring up. He spoke about the importance of expelling the myth that modular construction is merely another form of much-maligned post-war prefab, making clear that the business model is entirely different and the level of quality involved far higher.

He emphasised the pivotal role of ensuring high quality design and construction for the success of any Build-to-Rent development, saying that these schemes are not about building for a quick sale, but rather are a long-term investment, often of 30 or more years. For this reason, the robustness and quality of materials, the finishing and the services on offer need to be outstanding.

Michael then spoke about how vital good building design is for placemaking, pointing out that, because the Build-to-Rent sector is still emerging, collaboration between developers, designers, owners and contractors in creating the right models is extremely important – only by swapping experiences and sharing data can the right models be created to meet the ever-increasing demand for this new kind of community development.

Key figures from Chapman Taylor’s UK Residential team were present at the event all day, discussing our projects with other leading industry figures and sharing some of our insights into the direction of the sector. Visitors to our stand enjoyed being able to view some of our major residential projects in an immersive Virtual Reality format, something which provided a popular talking point.

For more information on Chapman Taylor’s Build-to-Rent experience, please contact:

Tom Klingholz
Director
tklingholz@chapmantaylor.com

Michael Swiszczowski
Associate Director
mswiszczowski@chapmantaylor.com