City Centre South’s 1,575 new homes aimed at stopping exodus of graduates
Plans are in place
More than 1,500 new homes to be built in the City Centre South regeneration scheme will be aimed at keeping graduates in Coventry and helping them get on the property ladder, a senior council official says.
Coventry City Council says the apartments could be the answer to stopping the current exodus of highly-qualified university graduates. But there are concerns the residential units will be snapped up by investors and rented out at a high cost.
The council’s director of property services and development, Richard Moon, says the intention is to encourage young professionals to stay and put down roots in the city centre, as well as taking pressure off surrounding green belt land which is increasingly being turned into new housing estates.
Cllr Ed Ruane (Lab, Henley) says he has doubts over the residential element of the project. Speaking at the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board, he asked Mr Moon: “How does this meet current housing demand in the city? We all know that city centre apartments are mainly built and owned by investors, like hedge funds, et cetera.
“What proportion of the housing provided will actually address the housing demand in the city?”
Mr Moon responded: “When we started looking at pivoting from a retail-led scheme to a residential scheme, we did a lot of work around demographics in the city.
“And one of the things that became very apparent is that we produce a lot of very highly qualified graduates in this city. But our graduate retention rates are low. People that graduate, even if they’re working for JLR or people around the city, choose not to live in Coventry.”
He explained: “I think part of that is young people want a certain lifestyle. They want to be able to go to coffee shops, artisan bakers and have that city centre lifestyle, which we do not have. We don’t really have anybody living in our city centre beyond the two existing tower blocks.”
He says current graduates who want to stay in the area end up going to live in nearby Leamington, Warwick, Solihull or Kenilworth.
He added: “The fact that we’ve been able to secure 20% affordable socially-rented housing is really important. It was something that was a pre-requisite, right from the start, because we weren’t going to accept there would be no social housing. Of the remaining units, half will be built to rent and half will be built to sell.
“So we do anticipate that the vast majority of those will be owned by Coventry people. Can we stop people buying houses and renting them out to other people? No we can’t, we are living in a free society where people have a right to do that.
“But ultimately, for me, this is about delivering a scheme for Coventry people, and improving Coventry city centre for the benefit of all Coventry people.
“This is 1,500 homes that would otherwise have had to have been accommodated on potential greenfield land around the city. We all appreciate the pressure that is put on the green belt around the city.
“Can I promise you that every one of these is going to be owned or occupied by a Coventry person? Of course, I can’t. I do believe that the vast majority will be, and that this will be a massive step forward for Coventry.”
Construction on the first new homes in City Centre South began in May 2026 and will be completed by early 2028. The entire first phase of the scheme, with 1,000 homes, will be completed by 2033. A second phase with 575 homes is to follow at an unspecified date.
Cllr Ruane asked if discussions were taking place with large companies in the city who could promote the apartments to graduates who join their workforce.
He said: “If it is about retention of graduates, how are you helping them get on that property ladder? Because the risk is that all those graduates will just privately rent and the real people who benefit from all of this will be the investors. I’m not knocking it, but that is the model of what goes on in every major city.
“And because you’re seeing such a huge growth in the private rented sector, and a drop in young people getting on the property ladder, what is that we’re generally doing to help?”
Mr Moon replied: “Ultimately, it will be the developers Hill who will be doing that. But they’re intending to effectively try and market these as a different alternative towards city centre living, which you haven’t had in the past. So I think it’s about marketing these to the right people.”