The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has expanded its property management business with the addition of a new site in Birmingham.

Landrow Place

From today (1 October), we will take over the management of Landrow Place on the edge of the city’s Jewellery Quarter, which comprises 259 apartments and was built in 2021. It takes the total number of homes we now manage to more than 800 with further locations planned.

Landrow Place was purpose built for renters, including a mix of one, two and three-bedroom homes with shared areas for fitness, home-working and socialising, and will be managed by our Partners, as employees of the JLP are known.

Long term ambitions

The announcement signals further positive momentum in delivering our long-term ambition to manage 10,000 homes through a combination of third-party sites and developing our own build to rent sites.

It marks the latest addition to our property management portfolio which was first established late last year when we took over the operation of the 326 homes in the Clarendon Quarter in Leeds. This was followed by the 232 homes in the Queen Street Quarter in Leicester earlier this year.

All three buildings are owned by clients of abrdn, which sees us build on the £500m joint venture we have with the global investment company to develop and manage homes in three existing John Lewis Partnership locations.

In July we were given the green light to redevelop our Waitrose shop in Bromley with a modernised store and 353 homes and we have recently submitted a planning application to transform a disused former warehouse site in Reading.

We also continue to progress plans through the appeal process to replace our Waitrose shop in Ealing with a new store and homes. The three proposed sites will potentially deliver more than 1,000 much-needed homes in central locations in close proximity to the local transport network.

Award winning property management

The team of Partners who manage the homes in Leicester has recently been nominated for ‘Best Onsite Team’ at the Build to Rent Awards taking place next month, whilst customer satisfaction scores have improved.

In addition, HomeViews, the UK’s only independent review platform for residential developments, has recently reported that resident satisfaction at both sites under JLP management has improved significantly, with sites now performing above the UK benchmark on every metric.

“In less than a year we have established a management business that has brought about significant improvement in customer satisfaction scores and, with the addition of Landrow Place, we will now operate more than 800 homes.

Alongside our first approved application to deliver desperately needed new homes from our own sites, with a further two applications in progress, it signals real momentum now in realising our long-term housing ambitions.”

Sophie Hine, Head of BTR Operations and Customer Experience for the John Lewis Partnership

“Building on the strong performance by the JLP team on our abrdn Build-to-Rent properties in Leeds and Leicester, I am delighted that they have now taken over the property management at our Landrow Place property in Birmingham.

This collaboration allows us to continue to leverage JLP’s quality of service and renowned trust to further enhance the living experience for our residents. We look forward to the positive impact they will bring to Landrow Place and to continuing our successful journey together.”

Robert McDonnell, Fund Manager for abrdn

About the John Lewis Partnership

We operate two of Britain’s best-loved retail brands – John Lewis and Waitrose. Started as a radical experiment over a century ago, the Partnership is now the largest employee-owned business in the UK, with around 70,000 employees who are all Partners in the business.

The Partnership is purpose-driven, existing to create a fairer and more sustainable future for our Partners, customers, suppliers and communities.

Our Purpose not only inspires our principles, drives our decisions and acts as our guide to be a force for good, it steers us to do things differently and better – all in service of creating a happier world for everyone and everything we touch.

John Lewis operates 34 shops across the UK as well as johnlewis.com. Waitrose has 314 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 59 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations.

Our omnichannel business includes the online grocery service, Waitrose.com, as well as specialist online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitroseflorist.com for plants and flowers.