As build-to-rent becomes more competitive, viability cannot be judged on cost alone. The strongest schemes will be those that create enduring value by becoming part of places where people genuinely want to live and stay.

This is the view of Lisa Gledhill, managing director of national partnerships at Muse.

“For investors, this means looking beyond an individual building and understanding the wider regeneration story,” she said. “For developers, it means bringing owners and operators into the conversation earlier, so that design, delivery and operation are aligned from the outset.”

Bisnow spoke to Gledhill about how placemaking, collaboration and early engagement can improve performance and reduce risk.


Bisnow: How can investors assess the long-term viability of BTR opportunities?

Gledhill: Investors need to see BTR as part of a longer journey. In a regeneration area, what surrounds a potential scheme today may look very different in five years.

After operating costs, one of the most important indicators of success is whether people choose to put down roots and stay. Lower resident turnover supports stronger operational performance, but that ‘stickiness’ comes from more than the building itself. It depends on the quality, character and trajectory of the wider place.

At Muse, we don’t approach regeneration as a series of isolated plots. We work with partners to create connected places that evolve over time.

Cenza at New Bailey in Salford is a good example. The building benefits from the earlier phases of development and from the wider mix of activity that has established a strong sense of place. Investors are not simply backing a building; they are backing the future of a neighbourhood.


Bisnow: What creates a genuine sense of place?

Gledhill: A successful place brings together a resilient, mixed community that takes pride in where it lives. That means combining different tenures with high-quality public realm, amenities and opportunities for social and economic connection.

Hale Wharf in Tottenham demonstrates this well. Affordable housing and BTR sit within an attractive mixed-use canal-side neighbourhood. The result is a place with a distinct identity and the qualities that encourage people to remain part of the community.

Too often these components are considered separately. Residents experience them as one place, so they need to be planned and delivered as one.

That same principle applies to how schemes are brought forward. The earlier developers, owners and operators align around the place and the customer, the stronger the outcome is likely to be.


Bisnow: Where is the BTR industry leaving value on the table?

Gledhill: Too often, a scheme progresses through planning before the future owner or operator is fully engaged. By that point, important decisions about the building and its operating model have already been made.

That matters because BTR operators serve different parts of the market. A premium, amenity-rich offer has very different requirements from a midmarket or more affordable, lower-amenity model.

If the design does not reflect the intended customer and operating approach, the eventual operator must either accept compromises or revisit the design post-planning, adding cost and delay.


Bisnow: How can developers avoid those compromises?

Gledhill: Earlier engagement allows the team to design with the operating model in mind. It also creates opportunities to capture value throughout the development process, rather than trying to correct misalignment later.

In practice, that means shifting the conversation from fixing a building after planning to shaping a place and product properly from the start.

The best outcomes come when operators are sitting around the table alongside the developer and design team before planning is submitted. That is where we have seen the biggest improvements in both efficiency and long-term performance.

This gives everyone greater clarity. The developer understands what the operator needs, the operator has confidence that the asset will work in practice, and the design team can respond to both the building and the wider place. The result should be a more efficient process and a better-performing asset.


Bisnow: What gives investors confidence in less established BTR markets?

Gledhill: The easiest investment decisions are in markets where the evidence already exists. The harder, and often more rewarding, decisions are in places that are changing. That's where understanding the strength of the regeneration story becomes critical.

Bradford City Village is a good example. This is a new neighbourhood in a city that is on a trajectory of transformation. The opportunity is therefore not only about current market conditions; it is about the customer base, the wider regeneration programme and the longer-term potential of the place.

Institutional investors are often looking for confidence as much as opportunity. A committed local authority, combined authority or Homes England can provide confidence that change will actually happen. Working in partnership can help investors understand the opportunity and manage the risks associated with entering an emerging market.

It also reinforces a wider lesson from BTR and regeneration: The strongest decisions are made when different perspectives are brought in early, rather than sequentially.


Bisnow: What has Muse learned from its experience in BTR?

Gledhill: One thing I've learned from working across regeneration partnerships is that no single organisation has all the answers. The strongest schemes emerge when different perspectives are brought together early.

Some of our most valuable lessons have come from operators challenging our assumptions early in the process. Those conversations often improve the product much earlier, and they help ensure the final scheme works for residents, operators, investors and the wider place.


Bisnow: How will a maturing BTR market shape future schemes?

Gledhill: The early UK BTR market was influenced by the more mature U.S. model and often focused on premium, high-amenity schemes. Those developments demonstrated what BTR could offer, but extensive amenities also carry a cost.

Operators are now becoming more precise about the customers they want to attract and the services those customers genuinely value. A gym, for example, may not add value for residents who already use a preferred local facility. The answer is not to add amenities for their own sake but to create the right offer for the market and the place.

That is where the next phase of BTR becomes more interesting. As the market matures, success will not come from having the longest amenities list. It will come from understanding who you are building for and creating somewhere people actively choose to stay. That is as much about the neighbourhood as it is about the building itself.

If developers and operators have those conversations early, they can create homes that work operationally and places that people genuinely choose to call home.

This article was produced in collaboration between Muse and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.