Greater Manchester Pension Fund and a consortium of senior lenders including NatWest, Lloyds Bank Commercial Real Estate and Greater Manchester Housing Fund is to fund Select Property Group's £247M Affinity Living build-to-rent scheme in Manchester.

The deal makes it the largest fully funded BTR scheme in Manchester to date, following Apache Capital's £128M backing for Moda Living's Angel Gardens in 2016, and dwarfs more recent deals such as DTZ Investors' £30M funding for Mulbury City at Ancoats.

The joint venture will fund the development of 683 apartments across a 37-storey tower and its 17-storey neighbour, alongside public realm works at the Circle Square development, Oxford Road.

Work has started on site with construction partner John Sisk & Son Limited.

The partnership with GMPVF was unveilled at MIPIM in March. Today's announcement reveals that a banking consortium has also come on board.

Circle Square is a £750M development in the heart of Manchester city centre. The scheme is a joint venture between Select Property Group and Bruntwood. The scheme is at the heart of Corridor Manchester, the science cluster being developed close to Manchester University and Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The first phase of Affinity Living on the scheme will complete in Q4 2020, with full completion scheduled for Q1 2021.