Brent Cross Town, the £8bn, 180-acre mixed use park town being delivered in partnership by Related Argent and Barnet Council, has partnered with leading co-living developers Halcyon Development Partners (‘Halcyon’) to deliver the town’s first co-living development. The development will be funded by DTZ Investors and will operate under their renowned Folk Co-living brand.
The development will provide over 300 co-living units alongside a range of exciting indoor and outdoor communal spaces. Located close to the new high street, Merchant Street and the main public space Neighbourhood Square in the heart of the town, it will be just three minutes’ walk from Brent Cross West mainline station which connects with St Pancras International in as little as 12 minutes.
Brent Cross Town is set to include 6,700 homes by masterplan completion, with co-living making an important contribution to the emerging living offer which also includes later living, Build-to-Rent, for-sale and affordable homes and student accommodation. The new co-living plot will form one building in an emerging ‘multi-generational quarter’ that will also feature the town’s first later living development, alongside affordable and for-sale homes and attractive public courtyards and gardens between these different tenure types to help foster a truly diverse, mixed-use community.
Brent Cross Town will be the fourth occasion Halcyon has paired up with DTZ Investors, which manages over £13 billion of assets across Europe and Asia, and its Folk Co-living brand. Halcyon is a leading co-living developer with an exciting future pipeline of 1,700 co-living units. Halcyon was responsible for delivering all three of the completed developments owned and asset managed by DTZ Investor’s Folk Co-Living Fund, including the RIBA award-winning Sunday Mills in Earlsfield. To be designed by Assael Architecture, the development at Brent Cross Town will incorporate learnings from a previous generation of co-living buildings to create an exemplary living experience informed directly by real resident feedback.
Nik Dyer, Associate Director of Development at Halcyon, said: “We are delighted to be bringing our best-in-class Co-Living expertise alongside DTZ investors Folk Co-living Fund to the Brent Cross Town Masterplan. Our important partnership represents the continued confidence of institutional capital into Halcyon and the co-living sector, but also a first in recognising this accommodation model as an important part of a London masterplan and wider ecosystem of housing delivery.”
Chris Saunders from DTZ Investors said: “We are thrilled to be working with Related Argent, the London Borough of Barnet and Halcyon to bring forward a new co-living opportunity. Demand for co-living continues to grow, and we're delighted to be adding another building to the Folk portfolio, particularly in Brent Cross Town which is a fantastic location for co-living. DTZ Investors Folk brand has become synonymous with best-in-class co-living and this building will be no exception.”
Oli Rifkind, Executive Director at Related Argent, said: “We are pleased to bring partners of the calibre of Halcyon and DTZ Investors on board at Brent Cross Town with their track record of creating exceptional co-living spaces in the capital. Brent Cross Town is truly a place for everyone, with co-living the latest brilliant addition, joining rental, for-sale, affordable, student and later living homes, set amid parks, playing fields, public squares, a new high street, schools and a business and innovation district to form a vibrant town and flourishing multi-generational community. With seven buildings under construction and the first residents moving in later this year, this partnership signals the continued investment confidence in London’s newest town.”
Councillor Ross Houston, Barnet Council Cabinet Member for Homes and Regeneration, said: “Plans for our first co-living building at Brent Cross Town show our continued commitment to providing a range of housing options at our emerging neighbourhood, whilst shared-living also helps foster a sense of community amongst the people that live there.”
Brent Cross Town will work closely with Halcyon and DTZ Investors to design the development and engage with local communities and stakeholders prior to submitting a planning application.
The announcement adds to the strong momentum at Brent Cross Town where seven buildings are under construction, with the first residents moving into the town later this year. The first office building, 3 Copper Square, started on site in the spring and will be completed in 2026. In total, over 930 homes, including affordable, market sale, and rental homes are on-site, along with 662 student rooms in partnership with Fusion Students. The first permanent public park, Claremont Park, opened in June 2022 and Brent Cross West mainline station opened in December 2023 and connects with St Pancras International in as little as 12 minutes. Brent Cross Town already boasts a selection of local retail and leisure offerings, and Sheffield Hallam University will open its first campus outside Sheffield at Brent Cross Town.
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About Halcyon: www.halcyondp.com
Formed in 2021, Halcyon is London’s leading co-living developer, with an emphasis on sustainable and impactful co-living developments.
Since 2022, Halcyon has delivered over 800 co-living units for DTZ Investors Folk portfolio, including a 270-unit scheme in Battersea known as Florence Dock which opened in July 2023.
Halcyon has a future 1,700 co-living unit pipeline of sites across London and the South East including sites in Hackney Wick and Fulham. Later this year Halcyon is due to start the construction of 329 co-living units in Woking with JRL Group.
About DTZ Investors:DTZ Investors is an award-winning investment and asset manager with over £13 billion of assets under management across Europe and Asia. For over 55 years DTZ Investors has been managing real estate on behalf of some of the largest institutional investors, and has received numerous awards from IPD/MSCI for consistently achieving benchmark beating returns.
In 2019 DTZ Investors launched the DTZ Investors Folk Co-Living Fund targeting large scale co-living assets in London. Since inception the Fund has funded the development of co-living assets in Harrow, Earlsfield, and Battersea, providing over 800 co-living units. All of the assets have been fully stabilised and are being operated under DTZ Investors Folk brand.
As an Article 9 fund, Folk has a strong focus on its environmental and social impact. A quarter of the co-living units are let at discounted markets rents. In 2023 the Fund was awarded a 5-star GRESB rating with all buildings achieving BREEAM Excellent certification. Through the extensive events programme and Folk’s community partnerships the Fund is supporting both the residents who live in our buildings but also the local communities we invest in.
About Related Argent: Related Argent is one of the largest privately owned property and urban regeneration businesses in the UK, working across residential, workspace, education, retail, hospitality and leisure. Its mission is to be a great city builder and to improve urban life for everyone, every day.
Its team of passionate urbanites bring together an extraordinary and unique blend of complementary skills, access to global capital and unrivalled delivery and management experience. By developing, owning and operating for the long-term, its work goes beyond bricks and mortar development to deliver inclusive growth for all its customers.
Today, Related Argent has a c. £13bn, 21 million sq ft UK portfolio, which includes the delivery of major London regeneration schemes at Brent Cross Town and Heart of Hale, plus its first Build-to-Rent development at Author King’s Cross. Related Argent is also the developer and asset manager of the award winning 67-acre King’s Cross estate and is progressing plans to redevelop the nearby four-acre St Pancras Hospital site.
Formed in 2015, Related Argent brings together the expertise and track record of Argent LLP - the developer behind some of Britain’s most successful urban, mixed-use places including King’s Cross, St Peter’s Square in Manchester and Paradise Circus in Birmingham - and Related Companies - one of the most innovative and prominent privately-owned real estate companies in the US, with over $60 billion in assets owned or under development, including Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s West Side and The Grand LA in California.
For more information visit relatedargent.co.uk.
About Brent Cross Town:Brent Cross Town is the neighbourhood at the heart of the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration programme. It is a joint venture between Related Argent and Barnet Council to develop a large-scale mixed-use development including new homes, retail and office space, as well as improved schools and greenspaces in the area. Early work started on site in early 2020. Building on the strengths of this diverse part of the city, Brent Cross Town will draw inspiration from the best of London’s long-established neighbourhoods with all their complexity and character.
At its heart, will be a focus on sport, play, health and well-being. The new neighbourhood will provide 6,700 homes, state-of-the-art workspace for over 25,000 people, and pedestrian friendly streets and squares with local shops and restaurants that will complement the offer at Brent Cross Shopping Centre. The community will be supported by first-class public transport infrastructure, a new and improved network of walking and cycle routes and a series of new parks and other amenities. www.brentcrosstown.co.uk @brentcrosstown
Related Argent is making four significant pledges for Brent Cross Town:
