A development of 105 apartments, in a suburban location equi-distant between the East Midlands cities of Derby and Nottingham.

Wildheart were initially appointed to manage this  development by a Fixed Charge Receiver, appointed by HBoS, following the insolvency of the scheme’s original developer City Lofts.

In February 2010 the residual 89 apartments were acquired by a prominent UK real estate investment fund and Wildheart have assisted them in the management of this scheme and the acquisition of additional units within the development.

Wildheart fulfil the function of both building manager and lettings/rental management, which would traditionally be viewed as different activities and thus distilled to separate non-aligned management partners.  The combination of these two activities (the former dealing with the management of the building itself, the communal areas and the grounds, the latter dealing with income generation and occupancy optimization) provides substantial efficiencies of scale for the client.

A cohesive approach to the management of the asset as a whole enabled Wildheart to substantially differentiate the rental proposition at Springfield Mill over and above other neighbouring and competing buildings, which have fractured ownership and a disjointed management regime. The “wholesale” ownership of units is key to creating an efficient operating environment.

The development is now the premier rental building within the local market.  Occupancy levels are now consistently over 95%, with tenants drawn from a wide market sector – young professionals and “newly singles” are prevalent but the rental demand is as diverse as it is strong.  Wildheart has also built strong relationships with local employers and in turn with relocation agents acting on behalf of large local corporate employers (for example - Rolls Royce, Eon, and Experian who are all based in the area).  Teaching staff at Nottingham University and medical professionals from the Queens Medical Centre also account for a sizeable proportion of tenants.

The strong rental demand and high occupancy rates have enabled Wildheart to set rental levels some way in excess of those achieved in the wider locality and existing rents are regularly reviewed on an upward basis.

An undoubted contributor to the success of this development is the on site management and maintenance team, factors which are a key feature to the US residential management proposition.  Residents are regularly astonished when defects within their apartment are fixed within the hour.  As asset managers, Wildheart is immediately aware of issues when these arise and instances of arrears and anti-social behaviour amongst tenants are far lower than would typically be the case in similar developments.

The success of the US based management model that Wildheart applied at Springfield Mill, is testimony to the requirement for innovation in the UK rental market and the benefits that this can provide for investors and owners.