© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
The founders of student accommodation pioneer Scape, Nigel Taee, Tom Ward and Adam Brockley, have today launched ‘Morro’, a new innovative living offering designed to become a global leader in private renting for urban dwellers, with four new developments underway in the UK in key London locations and an additional three developments underway in the USA.
Morro will build on the success of Scape which today operates 30,000 beds for students across the UK, Ireland and Australia with ambitions for further global development. The new brand is set to become a leader in a fast-growing new sector, particularly for the urban professionals market, looking at alternatives to traditional renting and a new way to maximise urban living. This demand has been accelerated by the pandemic with hybrid working reducing the distinction between home and work and highlighting the benefits that can come from being part of a social community.
Morro will be focusing initially on the Greater London area, building on its existing concept site in Guildford, Surrey that opened in 2021 to develop four new locations across thriving, connected and vibrant locations in the capital. These include Haggerston Kingsland Road, Blackhorse Lane in Walthamstow, Wallis Road in Hackney Wick and a development in Surrey Quays. These first of these developments is set to be completed in 2025 and will take the total number of beds operated by Morro in the UK to 1000.
Internationally, Morro is set to operate in four locations across the USA, with two new locations in Boston under development joining its existing development ‘The Bon’ a 450 bed building in Fenway, and a new Morro set to open in San Jose, California in 2024. The brand is also currently actively pursuing development opportunities in cities across Europe.
Nigel Taee, Chairman and co-founder of Morro and Scape commented, “Having already disrupted the traditional student accommodation market with Scape over the last decade, our ambition is to do the same to the urban rental market with Morro. The private renting market in cities is already growing rapidly as people re-evaluate the trade-offs between being able to enjoy urban living, versus the constraints of owning a property. We seek to restore value and revive trust in the private rental sector, rekindling a sense of worth in renting within fantastic cities.
Morro’s design-led approach, maximises space and utility to give people access to the best locations in cities, with a quality build, access to outsize amenities such as on-site gyms, cinemas and work spaces that simply would be out of reach to most people in traditional rented accommodation. It’s about both lifestyle and quality of life and creative spaces that start with the needs of the resident.
We will be using our unrivalled experience in designing, developing, and operating spaces and the strength of our investor partnerships to bring to life our vision to reimagine urban living and make Morro the first truly global rental brand offering choices in ways to live.”
Tom Ward, CEO and co-founder of Scape and Morro commented, “When it comes to property, we have always started by asking ‘what does the customer want?’ and it’s no different with Morro. We have designed our new rental concept from the inside out, to create spaces that are designed to adapt to people, and not the other way around.
Flexibility is at the heart of our ethos. Morro recognises that the lines between work and home are increasingly blurred and where we live needs to adapt to both. Morro residents have the opportunity to connect when they want and disconnect to enjoy their privacy when they don’t. That flexibility even extends to our contracts, recognising that people will want to use Morro spaces in different ways and for different lengths of time as well.”