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Watkin Jones PLC on Monday announced the forward sale of Loft Lines, a development site in Belfast, to life insurance and financial services provider Legal & General Group PLC and the Clanmil Housing Association. The development funding consists of 627 built-to-rent units and 81 social rent homes. It will be the first built-to-rent schemes in Belfast and one of the ‘largest waterfront regeneration sites in Europe,’ Watkin Jones said. It is scheduled for delivery in summer 2026, though construction work on the development will not meaningfully start until 2024. As a result, the profit contribution to Watkin Jones’s 2023 will be restricted to a small profit on the land transaction. The total consideration payable to the firm over the course of the development will be £155 million. ‘We are delighted to have secured institutional investment from both L&G and Clanmil Housing Association for this landmark scheme in Belfast’s iconic Titanic Quarter. This is further evidence of the attractive investment and operational fundamentals of both BTR as a sector and Belfast as a city and a good sign of capital markets re-opening,’ said Chief Executive Richard Simpson. Shares in Watkin Jones were up 7.1% at 73.17 pence on Monday morning in London. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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