Two joint ventures have been set up that will see £1.5B invested in the UK build-to-rent sector, with both partnerships having secured their first schemes.

Developer Moda Living and U.S. private equity firm KKR launched a new rental platform with an initial 5,000 homes across Leeds, Liverpool, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and the Midlands. The projects could have an end value of £1B.

Moda and KKR’s new platform will develop and operate tech-enabled neighbourhoods, focusing on highly efficient schemes with centralised amenity provision and flexible spaces in a low- to mid-rise built form, Moda said. The new "Select" model targets city centre fringe and affluent districts and is complementary to Moda’s existing co-living, family homes and prime rental platforms with investors, including Ares, Harrison St, NFU and Apache Capital.

The latest platform announcement takes Moda's overall pipeline to more than 18,400 units with a GDV of around £6B, making it the UK’s largest privately owned developer operator of build-to-rent assets, the company said. This marks the first investment KKR has made in the UK BTR market on a platform basis.

The new venture is set to make its debut acquisition in Birmingham, where it will deliver a £120M, 392-home neighbourhood at New Garden Square in Edgbaston, Birmingham on the Calthorpe Estate.

BlackRock’s European Property platform and Outpost Management also have formed a new joint venture to invest £500M in UK residential assets. Outpost is the new company of former Greystar UK director Troy Tomasik.

The joint venture has completed the seed acquisition of a brand-new freehold asset at 101 Camley Street, adjacent to King’s Cross and St Pancras stations, consisting of 121 residential units and 30K SF of flexible commercial space.

Residential asset and development manager Outpost will operate the property on behalf of BlackRock under Outpost’s new residential platform. The asset was acquired vacant on practical completion of the residential units, with Outpost’s business plan calling for operating the estate as build-to-rent and investing in additional amenities, including a resident gym, sky lounge, private dining room, coworking zones and a dedicated 24/7 on-site service team.