Interview with Ailish Christian-West from Get Living
Q. How can build-to-rent help in Levelling Up and the rejuvenation of town and city centres?
Understanding the needs of residents, communities and economies and translating that knowledge into the design of homes, amenity space and retail or commercials space are essential skills in creating successful build-to-rent assets. The more we understand about a neighbourhood, the better impact we can have with our development or operation of a build-to-rent scheme. Delivering high-quality homes supports employment, local businesses and brings new opportunities for vibrant city or town centre living supporting retail and leisure economies. Enhancing the residential options in city and town centre locations enable sustainable low-carbon living, leveraging off transport infrastructure, education facilities and other services clustered centrally. Therefore, build-to-rent is absolutely consistent with the Levelling Up agenda and potentially a catalyst in some areas.
Q. What new ideas are you contributing to the future of town and city centres?
Get Living are focused on bringing forward neighbourhoods that make a positive impact on the communities and economies in which we invest, develop and operate. One of the themes that we back is working with the creative industries, which really resonates with our residents, colleagues and wider stakeholder Ailish Christian-West Executive Director, Portfolio Management, Development and ESGaudience. Embedding arts and culture in our placemaking brings people together and is a key way to differentiate our build-to-rent assets and customer proposition. Research we commissioned from the Creative Land Trust and Creative Estuary shows that creative clusters see residential values outperform the London average by 4.4% over 10 years.
Drawing on that principle, in July last year, we teamed up with the award-winning pioneer of responsible design Christopher Raeburn to create `The Lab E20’, which is an experiential space for culture, creativity and community. Unlike most community accommodation offered by developers, our emphasis was on creating attractive, flexible, well-designed space that would appeal to the discerning London creative industries. Happily, this investment has paid off and The Lab E20 has appealed to creatives who may never otherwise have ventured into East Village, as well as local community groups and schools, creating a whole new level of participation in the neighbourhood. I see great opportunity not only for new neighbourhood retail concepts, but also flexible well designed cultural and creative spaces which connect and support strong communities and economies.
Q. What is your view on the UK government’s Levelling Up plans?
At its heart levelling up is about rejuvenating town and city centres, with people tired of seeing boarded-up shops and soulless empty properties where they would rather see thriving hubs that make them proud of where they live. With build-to-rent growing rapidly across Britain – the latest BPF statistics show that there are now 212,177 build-to-rent homes in the UK, of which 70,785 are complete, 42,119 under construction and 99,273 in planning – I believe the sector offers the opportunity to support regeneration and economic growth across the UK. One source of sites that will make sense for new residential development across the UK, will be our traditional retail town centres, some of which require urgent investment and reinvigorating. Creating high- quality homes, conveniently located close to transport, commerce and retail services is an opportunity, to bring new neighbours, build strong communities and create more sustainable town centres. Success depends on partnership with key stakeholders, listening and learning and delivering for residents and communities, skills which I know our industry has in abundance and which can be deployed to support the Levelling Up agenda.
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Repurposing Real Estate - The future of the world's towns and cities
Name: Ailish Christian-West
Title: Executive Director, Portfolio Management
Company: Get Living
