The investment firm set up by the founders of the River Island fashion chain has teamed up with a development partner to build two London coliving schemes. 

Blue Coast Capital and living specialist HUB are planning two central London schemes: the 240-home St Olav’s Court in Southwark and a 245-home development at Fleet Street Hill in Tower Hamlets.

Blue Coast was set up in 1980 by the Lewis family, which founded the River Island and Chelsea Girl retail brands. It invests in real estate, private equity and hospitality, with a focus on development in real estate. 

Both of the schemes will deliver new shared living space alongside affordable housing. 

HUB will now work with the design teams to take the two projects through detailed design, the Building Safety Regulator’s Gateway 2 process and onto site through to completion and operation.

There are about 9,000 coliving beds in the UK’s development pipeline, according to a report earlier this year from Investec. The fact that schemes can densely pack beds onto sites has helped the sector remain viable in the face of rising costs and stagnant asset values. 

“London continues to face a significant shortage of high-quality, well-located homes, and these two schemes represent exactly the type of living-led regeneration we want to support,” Blue Coast Capital Chief Operating Officer John Stacey said in a statement. 

Blue Coast is part of a long tradition of real estate firms set up by entrepreneurs who originally made their money in the fashion and garment trades, such as Lazari Investments and Sellar Property. 

Bernard Lewis was born in 1926 in London and followed his parents in setting up a greengrocer’s store when he was 20. 

He expanded into clothing retail and launched Chelsea Girl in the 1960s and River Island in the 1980s. Blue Coast was set up to diversify beyond retail. The Lewis Trust Group still owns River Island, which has 250 UK stores.