Changing with the times: Mayfair’s historic owner is setting its sights on property development outside of London
The Grosvenor Estate, one of the country’s oldest and largest landlords known for its assets at the more expensive end of the monopoly board, is ramping up its expansion plans for property development outside of London.
As part of a new portfolio strategy to build 30,000 homes outside of its traditional Mayfair and Belgravia stomping ground, the historic property owner revealed today that it aims to triple the size of its new housing business.
While Grosvenor’s typical focus has been on supporting the success of its 300-acre West End portfolio, a spokesperson for Grosvenor told City PM that it is now putting more emphasis on "providing mechanisms to assist with the current housing crisis" outside of the capital.
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Although the diversification of its property portfolio does not suggest that Grosvenor is selling up its assets in the capital, the move reflects an ambition to expand capabilities beyond the firm’s management of its 341-year-old affluent London base.
Among the pipeline of new communities revealed today was a 1,200 residential development in Cambridge, as well as a 900 house Oxford scheme in partnership with the city council.
With both cities situated not far from London, the Oxford and Cambridge investments will be key parts of Grosvenor’s new flagship strategy to tap into the market of delivering large-scale new communities outside of London.
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Jorge Mendonça, executive director of Grosvenor developments, said: "The concept of a master developer as the steward of design quality, controlling delivery and creating a genuine legacy for both our partners and local communities sits well with our track record, ethos and purpose as a business."
Mendonça added: "For us, enhancing the scale and speed of delivery in areas of acute need is not enough – we want to create communities people are proud to live in and benefit from. Both quantity and quality must be weighted equally in all considerations."