‘Help create a thriving new neighbourhood in the city’: London developer competes Belfast’s largest build-to-rent scheme with 627 new homes

Watkin Jones, the UK’s leading developer and manager of residential for rent, has reached practical completion of Loftlines, a landmark development in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, delivered for L&G.

The development delivers 627 BTR homes, significantly increasing the supply of professionally managed rental housing within Belfast’s city centre. Loftlines has been delivered in partnership with Lacuna Developments, with Graham appointed as the main contractor.

Located on Queen’s Island within the Titanic Quarter, Loftlines is the largest residential scheme delivered in Belfast in recent years, and Northern Ireland’s first large scale BTR development. Demand for professionally managed rental housing in Belfast continues to outpace supply, with this landmark development providing much needed housing while supporting jobs, inward investment and long-term economic activity in the city.

The development also reflects growing institutional confidence in Belfast as an emerging BTR market, supported by the city’s long-term growth, ongoing regeneration and increase in demand for city centre living.

Homes within Loftlines range from studios to three-bedrooms. The development includes resident amenities such as lounges, private dining rooms, a gym and yoga studio, flexible work spaces, games rooms and TV lounge, together with children’s play areas, roof terraces and high-quality public realm. Together, these facilities and public spaces are designed to support resident wellbeing and create a new neighbourhood within Titanic Quarter.

Loftlines will form part of L&G’s growing BTR portfolio, marking its first scheme in Northern Ireland and adding a high-quality development to its platform. The scheme reflects L&G’s wider strategy of using long-term institutional capital to support new rental housing in areas of strong demand, building on more than £4bn deployed through its BTR strategy across 12 UK cities.

Michael Bunyan, group development director at Watkin Jones said: “Loftlines delivers high-quality homes at scale into the important Belfast market, a city where demand for rental housing continues to outpace supply.

“It is also an important placemaking scheme, bringing forward new public realm, outdoor space and amenities that will support the continued regeneration of Titanic Quarter and help create a thriving new neighbourhood in the city.

“This is another scheme developed for L&G by Watkin Jones, reflecting both the depth of that demand and our ability to deliver large, complex developments for long-term investment partners in regional cities with attractive fundamentals.”