On a sunny day in March, we spent the day poking around a busy building site in Chippenham which is part of a project that Wiltshire Pension Fund has invested in. Upon our arrival, we met up with representatives from Vistry (the developer), Thriving Investments, and Gresham House - the latter two of which run the Residential Secure Income (ReSI) fund which Wiltshire Pension Fund have made a £50m commitment to as part of our Affordable Housing Portfolio..
ReSI aims to deliver affordable housing via the acquisition and management of shared ownership homes throughout the UK.
The site that we visited is delivering affordable homes in Chippenham, a short trip away from our office in Trowbridge and within the county that the majority of our members reside within (with 8% of members within Wiltshire residing in Chippenham itself).
The site in Chippenham is being developed on a brownfield site in a former industrial area near the train station, with great access to the local area and fantastic transport links to Bristol, Bath, Swindon and London.
The local authority and Vistry have worked to set a new standard with this development, offering modern, high quality, energy efficient homes which will be delivered to the highest energy efficiency standards (EPC A) through the use of solar panels, wastewater heat recovery systems, and more.
The developer is also holding itself to a higher standard, with occupied homes on the perimeter of the site, Vistry are taking steps to reduce the impact of the development on their neighbours (such as by sprinkling water on the site to help minimise the dispersion of dust).
We also couldn't help but notice that the distinctive sound of petrol generators was missing, as the site's cabins were powered by solar panels - further reducing the impact on both the environment and the site's neighbours.
In addition to being conscious of the development's human neighbours, Vistry have also had to be mindful of their four-legged neighbours as they discovered a nearby badger sett - this meant creating a run for the badgers in order to help convince them to move to a safer and more suitable home.
Although this did delay the start of the development, investment return is still in line with the target and plenty of headroom was built into the programme, preventing this from impacting the final practical completion date too heavily.
Seeing an aspirational development come to life in our county, making use of a brownfield site, and providing much needed affordable homes for local families, was an opportunity that we relished, and we look forward to visiting the site again next year. Despite a difficult environment for investing in new affordable housing in recent years, ReSI continues to deliver on its objectives and is expected to achieve its targeted return of 7-8% net returns.
Investment Analyst
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