News

We’re delighted to announce that Amro Partners and NTT UD Europe (NTT UDE), a subsidiary of a Japanese real estate developer NTT Urban Development, have formed a joint venture partnership to fund the development of The Rex co-living project in London.

 

The £80M GDV project located directly opposite Kingston train station represents NTTUDE’s first foray into the UK residential market and the first joint venture between the two parties. The project will deliver 210 co-living units and will be the first co-living building in the UK to achieve BREEAM Outstanding status in addition to the targeted Fitwel 3*, WiredScore Platinum and ActiveScore Platinum ratings.

 

The project will see part of the existing substructure and superstructure retained to maximise embodied carbon reuse, making it one of Europe’s most sustainable buildings on completion in January 2025.

As funds now have to give detailed assessments of their sustainability ranking, the days of paying lip service are over.

 

By Ami Kotecha, Co-Founder and President of Amro Partners

 

Few can argue against the urgent need for transparency and accountability when it comes to ESG-related claims. As of January 2023, regulations came into force under the EU’s SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) requiring financial market participants, including real estate funds, to file quarterly reports outlining their ESG performance against precise and transparent sustainability goals.

 

Funds must explain both how they will integrate sustainability risks into investment decisions – and the true impact of these decisions on the environment and on social outcomes. Instead of relying on vague sustainability reports that pay lip service while continuing ‘business as usual’, investors will be armed with the real information allowing them to confidently assess those funds that are genuinely aligned with their values.

 

The first reports are due on 30 June this year – a mere three months away. SFDR applies to any financial market participants marketing their products in the EU, so UK companies cannot look away. The UK is also responding with its own SDR (Sustainability Disclosure Requirements) Framework, currently under consultation.

Amro co-founder and group President Ami Kotecha has been appointed Chair of the UK PropTech Association (UKPA) following a unanimous vote by the Board.

 

Ami’s tenure begins during an inflationary economic environment that can provide interesting opportunities for Proptech start-ups. However, UK tech start-ups are also having to work harder to attract new venture capital investment, and while Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has put tailwinds of $370 billion behind climate tech solutions, the UK must respond quickly and decisively to show its own commitment to green tech investment and to innovation as a whole by offering a speedy replacement to the planned reduction in R&D tax credits.

 

PropTech holds the key to solving the largest problems facing the real estate sector as it grapples with decarbonisation, dislocation and a growing need for data-enhanced decision making.

UKPA is already taking the lead in facilitating discussions, nurturing ideas and creating an open environment for the tech community to cross-germinate and collaborate with large and small real estate sector players.

 

We’re delighted to announce we have strengthened our senior leadership team with four key promotions.

 

Within the European student housing leadership team, Luis Lopez-Quinones Garcia and Pablo Garcia- Morales Osorio have each been promoted to Managing Director and appointed as Co-Heads of Iberia. They will work alongside recently appointed Senior Managing Director Rainer Nonnengässer, tasked with spearheading Amro’s drive into new student housing markets including Germany, the Netherlands and Austria.

 

Within the UK Build to Rent leadership team, Tom Donnachie has been promoted to Managing Director, UK Investment and Stephen Hole has been promoted to Managing Director, UK Development.

 

We are already in advanced discussions with long-term institutional investment partners as we begin a significant scale-up of our residential living investment platforms, targeting €2 billion gross portfolio value in our Europe student housing platform and £2 billion in our UK BTR vehicle within the next four years.

 

Director of Sustainability & ESG, Elisabetta Li Destri Nicosia, who joined the business in 2022, will work closely with both teams to implement sustainability strategies at asset, portfolio and corporate level as we double down on our NZC2025 target.

• €30M GDV project will deliver 221 new student beds close to five universities
• Facilities include rooftop terrace, green spaces, canteens, gym and study rooms
• Project will target maximum ESG credentials to be one of Europe’s most sustainable buildings
• Valencia has the greatest student housing supply/demand mismatch of any Spanish city

We have further strengthened our position in the Iberian student housing market with the acquisition of a new €30M GDV project in Valencia, on Spain’s south-eastern coast, alongside our partners IP Investment Management and Heed Capital.

 

The project will deliver 221 new student beds on a c. 2,000 sqm site just outside the city centre, in newly regenerated Avenida del Puerto, a major avenue within walking distance of five universities: European University of Valencia, University of Valencia, University Polytechnic of Valencia, University Catholic of Valencia and International University of Valencia.

 

Featuring extensive shared modern facilities including a swimming pool, gym, rooftop terrace, green spaces, canteen and study rooms, the development will target maximum ESG credentials including BREEAM Outstanding, Fitwel 3*, and WiredScore platinum certifications. In addition, following our NZC2025 pledge, the scheme will seek Passivhaus status making it one of the most sustainable new buildings in Spain, and indeed continental Europe, on completion in early 2026.

 

Valencia is a tier one market in Spain, being the country’s third most popular university destination with strong underlying market fundamentals. During the 2021/22 academic year, the total student population was over 103,000 students with international students accounting for approximately 12% of the total. In addition, Valencia recorded the highest YoY student enrolment growth of all provinces at 2.9%.

•  PBSA project in Alicante will deliver c. 280 beds opening in September 2025
• Home to 27,000+ students, Alicante is a robust market with a significant supply shortage
• €30M GDV project will target BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, Fitwel 3* and EPC ‘A’ ratings
• Targeting NZC2025, Amro is creating the most sustainable residential portfolio in Europe

We continue our strong growth in Iberia with the acquisition of a new student housing project in Alicante, alongside joint venture partner Falco Capital.

The c. €30 million GDV project, Amro Estudiantes Alicante, will deliver c. 280 student beds in San Vicente del Raspeig, just 3 minutes’ walk from Universidad de Alicante’s main campus.

In line with Amro’s commitment to our NZC2025 pathway, the development will target the highest possible ESG ratings including BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, Fitwel 3* and WiredScore ‘Platinum’, making it one of Spain’s most sustainable buildings upon completion in early Q3 2025.

Home to more than 27,000 students (c.7,500 in need of accommodation) and with an estimated 1,250 dedicated student beds, comprising mainly unsophisticated private operators, Alicante is suffering from a chronic shortage of high-quality student accommodation with modern facilities. The current ratio of students to dedicated beds stands at around 6:1, with student numbers continuing to rise year on year.