PODCAST | Padoq + Grainger on BTR

Mike Anderson, founder and CEO of Padoq and Andrew Saunderson, investment director at Grainger, join Paul Unger, editor of PlaceTech, to talk trends in the build-to-rent residential sector.

Listen to the full podcast

Grainger is the UK’s largest listed residential landlord, with 9,000 rental homes in its portfolio, and a £2bn pipeline which will see it double in size.

Padoq is an online platform that allows companies to launch engagement-focused mobile apps quickly and cost-effectively. With tenant management apps being one of its core solutions, Padoq currently provide apps for the likes of Vita Student and UrbanBubble. Residents use the apps to report issues, book rooms and join their local communities. To find out more, visit padoq.com

WHAT WE LEARNED

• Grainger has been delivering build-to-rent apartments since 2013: proposition offers customers something they’ve not had in UK before
• Happy customers tend to stay: typical 6,000 sq ft amenity space for 600 apartments
• Lower deposit, shorter term exit make it manageable for the resident
• Priority for Grainger is creating as pleasant a journey through process of renting as possible
• Residents want the ability to self-serve, if they do not want physical interaction with a concierge they could get every service they need through the web
• Padoq apps have become an even more important part of a building during Covid: report that issue, book that room, check on services, join that group
• Engagement through book clubs, fitness groups, dog walking groups within buildings has gone up, particularly as niche micro-groups are created during Covid
• Demographic shifts expected in the work-from-anywhere era will not threaten cities, which offer a lot more than merely the place where you work, build to rent won’t be adversely affected – Grainger’s Saunderson believes
• Padoq offers a quick community solution for a developer to launch a branded app
• Tech that comes forward will be dictated by customers, they are getting more savvy and want the best product available
• BTR is on a huge learning curve in the UK, there will be a raft of lessons from Covid, it will change the way people interact but fundamentally it is about creating the right product in the right place