Round Hill Capital has opened a Dublin office and appointed former WK Nowlan Director John Vaudin to lead a planned €1B-plus investment in the local build-to-rent and student accommodation sectors. 

The real estate investment and development company has put over €6.5B into European assets since being set up in the U.K. in 2002. It operates 13 offices across 10 countries and around 65,000 residential and student housing beds in eight European markets.  In 2017, it expanded into North America, opening offices in Boston and New York.

The company said it is funding a pipeline of over 7,000 student beds in the U.K., Ireland and Europe and aims to have 20,000 student beds in these markets by 2020.

It has 3.6M SF of residential and commercial projects under construction across Europe.

While no Irish deals have been announced to date, the company said it has been evaluating the market here for several years. Negotiations to forward fund the development of Marlet Property Group’s Dublin Living portfolio of 1,205 build-to-rent apartments for a reported €450M ended at the beginning of the summer.

Also in the build-to-rent sector, Cairn Homes’ 120-unit Six Hanover Quay is understood to have been on Round Hill’s radar but Carysfort Capital agreed to buy the scheme for €120M at the beginning of June.

“We have ambitious plans and over €1B of capital to deploy in Ireland and setting up a locally staffed office is a sign of our intention to invest for the long-term,” Vaudin said.

The new office has a staff of four and the company plans to increase this to between eight and 10 people over the next 12 months.
 
A chartered surveyor with over 25 years’ development and asset management experience, Vaudin spent the last 12 years with WK Nowlan Real Estate Advisors, Dublin, where he was a director and shareholder, and also previously worked for Treasury Holdings and Harcourt Developments in Ireland and for Thames Water Property, BAA Lynton and Pillar Property in the U.K.

Vaudin will be speaking at the next Bisnow event — The Future of Beds in Dublin — on Tuesday 18 September.