McLaren Property secures funding for Manchester PBSA scheme

Residential and student accommodation developer McLaren Property has finalised a forward funding agreement with L&G for a PBSA scheme in Manchester.

Upper Brook Street

The £160 mln (€187.8 mln) Upper Brook Street development will provide 737 student beds and is expected to welcome Russell Group students for the 2028-2029 academic year.
The project will feature approximately 25,349 m2 across two buildings, rising to 9 and 23 storeys respectively. It will offer a mix of 288 studios and 449 cluster bedrooms.
Located just southeast of Manchester city centre, the development is strategically positioned near the Russell Group's University of Manchester, within the thriving Oxford Road Corridor, a recognised hub for students and research.
The new student accommodation will also include a community facility, a café, and improved accessible public spaces with new trees. The project will target BREEAM Excellent, EPC A, and Platinum Wired Score ratings.
David Atherton, divisional managing director, McLaren Property, said: “This partnership represents a significant milestone for the project, the wider regeneration of the Upper Brook Street Masterplan, and the student accommodation sector as a whole. This is a hugely positive outcome and demonstrates the availability of institutional capital for high-quality student-led assets, in prime locations.”
Adam Burney, head of BTR & PBSA, L&G: “This partnership reflects the momentum of our expanding PBSA Student Living Platform, launched in 2024, with this project being the fourth asset acquired to date and the first being forward funded. PBSA forms part of our wider housing platform, where we have invested in excess of £5 bn across BTR, PBSA, affordable housing, and later living.”
This new student accommodation project is an integral part of the broader Upper Brook Street masterplan. It is being developed alongside a scheme already in progress by Kadans Science Partner, a specialist in science and technology real estate. Kadans' in-house team is delivering a 9-story building that will provide 20,067 m2 of purpose-built technical real estate space.
CBRE and Addleshaw Goddard advised McLaren Property on the deal, while MTRE represented L&G.