News | 08 Oct 2019

Moorfield Foundation makes social impact investment with residential acquisition in Manchester

Moorfield Foundation, the charitable arm of UK real estate private equity fund manager Moorfield Group, is pleased to announce the acquisition of a residential property in Manchester, which has been leased to Bridge-It Housing, a registered landlord and charity which provides temporary housing for homeless people. It represents the Moorfield Foundation’s first dedicated social impact investment, a key tenet within its increasingly prominent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

Located in Clayton, a suburb three miles east of Manchester’s city centre, the property is now providing a home to four otherwise homeless people. Bricks & Soul, Moorfield’s local Manchester partner who focus on bringing empty homes back into use with full and inspiring refurbishment methods, using local tradespeople and products, were responsible for finding, refurbishing and delivering the property.

Bridge-It Housing works with a wide range of people who find themselves suddenly without a permanent home for a number of different reasons – often loss of employment, relationship breakdown or refugee status. The charity also provides additional support through counselling, life skills training, CV assistance and employment search support, with a view to moving the residents into permanent social housing. In the last year it has provided support to over 1000 people through its various initiatives.

Sadie Malim, Head of Special Projects at Moorfield Group, commented: “Our first social impact investment in Manchester, supporting a charity which is providing much needed services and support to those at risk of homelessness, is a significant milestone. We have invested in Manchester for many years and we are excited to showcase how we plan to invest in social projects that support our values in those cities where we are commercially active.

“This investment also represents the first step towards creating a more sustainable Charitable Foundation that progresses beyond a simple donations model and which we aspire to build into a meaningful long-term foundation.

“We loved the work that Tors Sinclair at Bricks & Soul was doing in Manchester to bring unloved terraced houses back to life through community focused refurbishment projects. We shared a common belief that all homes should be inspiring and uplifting spaces and in particular our aim was deliver such homes for the exclusive use of charitable housing providers.”

One of the Bridge-it clients stated: “I have been living in the Clayton house for 5 months and I’m absolutely in love with it. It is a 5-star house for me, we have all the facilities we need and the decoration is amazing. This house is better than the house I grew up in, I am so thankful to Bridge-it Housing for their help.”

The Clayton Street investment is the latest milestone for Moorfield in its CSR roadmap. Having created its first Sustainability Statement and Action Framework in 2009 and established a Sustainability Committee in 2015, published its third annual Corporate Sustainability Report outlining the progress made across the business in 2018, with highlights including:

  • Reduced energy consumption across its portfolio by 13%, exceeding its longer term target of a 12% reduction from 2016 to 2020.
  • Reduced scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 63% in absolute terms and 38% on a like for like basis across MREFIII and MREFIV funds, when compared to the 2016 base year.
  • Increased its recycling performance to 61% at monitored properties.