Birmingham is having a moment. More people are choosing to put down roots here drawn by the city’s creative energy, its independent scene, and neighbourhoods like the Jewellery Quarter that feel like somewhere rather than anywhere.
If you’re exploring rental options in Birmingham, you’ve probably come across the term build-to-rent. It’s used a lot, but not always explained. So, here’s what it actually means, how it compares to renting through a traditional landlord, and what it looks like in practice at Makers Place.
What is build-to-rent?
Build-to-rent (BTR) refers to homes designed, built and managed specifically for renters, not converted from something else and not managed as a side project. Everything about them, from the layout of shared spaces to how maintenance gets handled is built around the person living there.
In practice, that typically means:
- 24-hour concierge
- Professional on-site management and maintenance teams
- Flexible tenancy options
- Shared amenities included as part of your rent
- A dedicated app to manage bookings, requests and day-to-day life
- Community events and programming
- No letting agency fees
For a lot of people, the appeal is straightforward: one team, one point of contact, a home that actually works.
Build-to-rent vs traditional renting: what’s the difference?
The biggest difference isn’t the apartment. It’s everything around it.
Traditional renting in the UK works the same way it always has. You find a property through an agency, sign a contract, and deal with a landlord who may own one flat or twenty. Quality varies. Maintenance response times vary. Whether anyone picks up the phone: also varies.
Build-to-rent takes a more integrated approach. The building is managed as a complete residential community. The same team that welcomes you in is the team maintaining the shared spaces, organising events and responding when something needs to be fixed. There’s no chain of agencies to navigate. Just people who know the building, and over time, the people in it.
Shared amenities also play a different role. In BTR, they’re part of how the building works, spaces for focused work, hosting, unwinding - not features to photograph and forget. For people working flexibly, settling into a new city, or simply wanting a home that does more, that distinction matters.
What that looks like at Makers Place
Makers Place is Moda’s newest build-to-rent neighbourhood in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter with homes across three buildings, each with its own character, all connected by shared spaces designed to be used rather than just listed.
Residents have access to co-working spaces, a sky lounge bar, a 24-hour gym and studio, roof terraces with BBQs, private dining, a cinema and resident lounges. Everything from reserving the private dining room to raising a maintenance request is managed through the MyModa app. Straightforward, on your terms, without chasing anyone.
There’s also a dedicated on-site team who knows the building properly. Maintenance is handled in-house. Queries get answered by someone who’s actually there. It’s a personal, responsive service that’s hard to find in traditional renting because it was never built into that model.
Then there’s the community layer. Makers Place works with five independent creatives from the Jewellery Quarter, ‘makers’ whose work is woven through the building’s shared spaces and whose businesses are a few streets away. Residents get exclusive access and discounts, and a year-round events programme built around helping people feel at home faster. You can read more about the Local Makers Partnership here.
Why the Jewellery Quarter?
The building matters. But so does the street it’s on.
The Jewellery Quarter has been Birmingham’s creative heart for over 200 years - shaped by makers, craftspeople and independent thinkers who gave it a character that’s still here. Victorian workshops sit alongside modern studios. Independent cafés, bars and restaurants that have been here long enough to know their regulars sit alongside new ones finding their feet.
Within a few minutes’ walk you’ll find speciality coffee, an award-winning ramen spot, craft beer in a restored 1820s corner pub, a rooftop terrace bar, a wine bar set inside a railway arch and a street food market that brings local traders and makers together most weekends. St Paul’s Square is on your doorstep, one of Birmingham’s most characterful green spaces and a good place to start the day. The Jewellery Quarter Business Improvement District has played an active role in supporting the independent businesses that give the area its identity, and it shows.
It’s walkable in a way that actually matters, not just to the city centre but to things worth walking to. Studios and shopfronts that don’t show up on the tourist map but become part of your weekly routine.
Makers Place takes its cue from all of it. The materials, the craft references, the local partnerships - none of them are imported from a developer’s template. It’s rooted in the neighbourhood it belongs to.
When you live here, the Quarter is yours from day one.
Thinking about renting in Birmingham?
Makers Place is now welcoming residents. If you’d like to see the homes, the spaces and the neighbourhood for yourself, book a viewing and come and have a look.
