Network Rail sells eight acre brownfield site in Gloucester for £70 million resi-led regeneration

By Nicky Godding

14 December 2021

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Brownfield developer Eutopia Homes has acquired an eight acre brownfield site in central Gloucester for a £70 million residential-led regeneration project.

The deal was funded by Chenavari Investment Managers., marking Eutopia Homes’ fifth unconditional transaction with the company.

Eutopia Homes has successfully secured a draft allocation in the latest Gloucester Local plan review for a minimum of 300-homes on the urban brownfield site adjacent to Gloucester City train station.

Eutopia Homes is planning on bringing forward proposals early next year for the delivery of a mixture of single-family homes for rent, alongside city centre apartments.

The acquisition of the site marks the third purchase Eutopia Homes has made from Network Rail, following previous transactions for Exmouth Junction in Exeter.

The developers’ scheme has been designed to cater to the city’s growing workforce by providing housing for both rent and sale that is well designed, high quality and accessibly priced.

Eutopia Homes was launched by Scott Hammond in 2017 and has since secured a £365 million pipeline of mid-market homes for rent and sale on well-connected sites in core regional cities.

Scott Hammond, founder and CEO at Eutopia Homes, said: “We are excited to bring forward this complicated brownfield site for a new balanced community of homes for sale and rent.

“Recent investment by the University of Gloucester for the acquisition of the old Debenhams store for a new campus, along with the City Council's recent investment in driving a new cyber hub for the UK in close proximity to Gloucester Council’s HQ, will bring more employment to the City, which in turn will drive up the demand for high-quality housing.”

Cristian Postans, managing director at Chenavari Investment Managers, added: "We are delighted to be supporting Eutopia Homes on the Gloucester deal. The UK multifamily sector is a key area of focus for Chenavari and, together with best-in-class investment partners like Eutopia Homes, we continue to back deals with strong underlying fundamentals in locations with favourable supply and demand dynamics such as Gloucester."

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.