M&G Real Estate, part of M&G’s €86 billion private markets’ business, has made a forward funding commitment to a €41.7 million built-to-rent scheme in Leiden, an academic and entrepreneurial hub in the Netherlands. The deal is on behalf of the M&G European Living Property Fund - launched in January this year - and marks the fund’s first investment in the Netherlands.
The scheme, known as “MORE5”, developed by Amsterdam-based developer Lingotto, will consist of 206 multi-family apartments and 178 square meters of commercial space. Out of the total housing units, 184 will provide affordable rents, with 150 of them designated to university staff. Close to the city centre, the development will be located in Leiden’s Bioscience Park, the largest pharmaceutical Life Sciences cluster in the Netherlands, home to 150 life science related companies, university faculties, labs and research institutes and Leiden’s University Hospital.
The scheme will be equipped with a thermal energy storage system, served by 240 solar panels providing heating and cooling, and will offer 527 bike parking spaces. With expected completion in the last quarter of 2025, MORE5 is targeting a minimum GPR (Dutch sustainability score) score of ≥ 7.5 and aims at achieving the BREEAM-in use Very Good or better certificate one year after completion, and all units will benefit from energy labels A, A+ and A++.
Source: press release received on 4 December 2023