Located close to Temple Meads Station in the emerging Temple Quarter, the ND7 site has planning consent to deliver 168 one, two and three bedroom apartments above 11, 500 sq ft of commercial space, and looks set to become one of the city’s first, bespoke Build to Rent schemes.

Commenting, South West Head of Region Darren Sheward said: "Bristol is seen as an incredibly buoyant city by major UK institutions, overseas investors and UK property companies who have invested heavily in commercial investment property over the last three years.”

“LGIM's purchase of ND7 now extends this interest to the residential sector, and is the first in a number of high profile investments in residential rental properties across the city that will emerge over the next 12 to 18 months."

The acquisition, from Square Bay, is the first for LGIM and its new partner, Dutch pension fund PGGM, which announced its £600m private rented sector (PRS) joint venture earlier this year. It has said it plans to build an initial 3,000 private rental housing units.

The ND7 site will be built and managed by LGIM, with completion anticipated in autumn 2018.