A well-known senior figure in the Build to Rent and residential investment industry has joined Steven Herd and Andrew Griffith at MyLondonHome to create MLH Investments.

Richard Berridge, who has been involved in the property sector for 37 years, will focus on building a team to concentrate on acquisitions and disposals of ‘Residential Investments, Residential Developments and Land & New Homes’.

To begin with, MLH Investments will concentrate on London and within the M25.

Berridge, who took up his role this week and is based in MyLondonHome’s head office in Catherine Place, Westminster, started his career at Mann and Co in 1982. In the years since he has worked as a land buyer, agent, facilitator, developer and investor both in London and the regions.

He ran Keith Cardale Groves in Mayfair following their takeover by KFH and, in 2008, joined Residential Land as Head of Consultancy. Since leaving Residential Land, he has focused on all types of residential investment, the private rented sector and Build to Rent as an independent consultant.

The aim, with MHL Investments, is to create a ‘fit for purpose’ residential investment agency.

“The phrase ‘fit for purpose’ doesn’t imply everybody out there is doing a bad job, it simply reflects the fact that the resi’ investment industry is changing at lightning speed,” Berridge said. “Much of that is down to BTR which is ripping up the rulebook and introducing the customer focussed paradigms we are all familiar with in other industries.”

Steven Herd, chief executive of My London Home, added: “Richard and I have known each other for more than 20 years and, for the past five, we’ve flirted with the idea of working together. Following the sale of our lettings and management business to Nick Dunning Associates in March, our flirtation became more serious and, along with my desire to build an investment division within MLH to complement our other sales business, it quickly became apparent that us working together would be mutually beneficial.” 

He said Berridge’s breadth of experience and ability in the residential investment and development sector was second to none ‘and the team we will build together will be exceptional’. 

“This is a hugely exciting time for MyLondonHome and I cannot wait for the next chapter of our evolution to begin,” he added.