Packaged Living and Aviva Investors acquire two single family housing developments, growing UK platform to 1,500 homes

Packaged Living (“Packaged”), the UK’s leading sustainable living specialist and Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc, announce they have acquired two additional single-family housing developments, both in Milton Keynes, to develop 212 new homes.

The funding continues a partnership between Packaged and Aviva Investors to create a platform of affordable and energy-efficient family homes across the UK, which launched in November 2021. Since then, the partnership has now helped to fund the creation of almost 1,000 homes across seven developments, with an additional 500 homes in exclusivity.

It is also the first investment into the UK residential and living sector made by Aviva Investors’ Long-Term Asset Fund, REALTAF, which launched in May 2023 with an initial £1.5bn portfolio of carefully selected assets, at the time making it the largest such fund launched in the market.

The 212 new family homes to be created will be spread across two brand new communities in Shenley Wood and Whitehouse Park, together worth more than £85 million.  Shenley Wood in the South-West area of Milton Keynes will comprise 117 new single-family homes consisting of two, three and four bedrooms. The site is located just two miles from Milton Keynes city centre, providing convenient access to a wide range of employment and amenity centres, major transport nodes and plentiful green spaces in the surrounding area.

Whitehouse, which is located to the West of central Milton Keynes, within the Whitehouse Park masterplan, will comprise 95 new single-family homes consisting of two, three and four bedrooms. The Whitehouse Park masterplan will deliver a total of 4,400 new homes, four schools, employment spaces, extensive amenity and community offerings, whilst being well-situated at the heart of the wider Ox-Mk-Cam arc.

Continuing Packaged’s and Aviva Investors focus on creating sustainable communities, the new developments will offer families highly energy-efficient homes, designed to minimise ongoing energy usage and running costs. All homes in the portfolio will use air source heat pumps and electric-only energy solutions, rather than gas-powered alternatives. Both developments will also feature electric vehicle charging for every dwelling and photovoltaic panels combined with battery power storage to help improve efficiency and further drive down costs. In addition, all homes will be targeting EPC A and HQM Level 4.

Jonathon Ivory, Chief Investment Officer at Packaged Living, added:

“We are pleased to be partnering with Dandara once again. Our single-family housing business model is predicated on doing as much repeat business with as few counterparties as possible. This is the key to successful SFH platform scaling. Aside from delivering a high quality and sustainable product, Dandara share our enthusiasm for a true partnership model, one which is built on mutual respect, trust and understanding.”

James Stevens, Head of Real Estate Investment at Aviva Investors, said:

“As one of the leading and active investors in the UK’s residential and living sector, we are incredibly pleased to provide funding towards the schemes in Shenley Wood and Whitehouse Park. These developments are further examples of our ability to deliver projects, leading the way in supporting communities across the UK in helping them get ready for the future. We believe they can bring a great deal of social value to the local areas they are located, whilst also delivering good investment returns for UK pension savers.”

It is the latest investment continuing the desire of both Aviva and Aviva Investors to support projects that can deliver social value and long-term benefits for local communities across the UK and help position them for the future.

The homes have been purchased from Dandara, one of the largest privately owned housebuilders and developers operating in the UK living sector, which is currently delivering 237 homes for the Partnership in Braintree, Essex and Dartford, Kent.

Trevor Dempsey, Dandara CEO said:

 “These market leading collaborations are the third and fourth single-family housing funding transactions between Dandara, Aviva Investors and Packaged Living. We are pleased to be building on the success of our previous partnership at Dandara’s developments at Towerlands Park, Braintree and Dartford. We look forward to continuing to deliver modern, energy-efficient homes to this dynamic market here in Milton Keynes.”