The investor-led group was established at the UK government’s first-ever Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham on Tuesday. It aims to work with the government and the City of London Corporation to channel the nation’s savings into crucial infrastructure, affordable housing, and fast-growing businesses in sectors like AI and fintech.

The investment drive has been kicked off by three major pension funds. Legal & General (L&G) has committed a further £2 billion by 2030 to deliver around 10,000 new affordable homes and support the creation of 24,000 jobs. Nest, the state-backed scheme representing a third of the UK workforce, has pledged £500 million to its private equity mandate with Schroders Capital, with £100m expected to be channelled into UK companies. Nest will also invest £40m to deliver high-speed broadband to remote communities in Scotland and Northern England.

They are joined by AustralianSuper, Australia’s largest pension fund, which has announced an initial £500 million investment in a new UK rental homes platform. This is part of a wider ambition to invest £8bn of new capital into the UK over the next five years.

The move comes as institutional investors show growing interest in the UK residential sector. According to the Office for National Statistics, average UK rents have risen by 8.7% year on year. Vicky Stanley, senior investment director at AustralianSuper, cited the “structural supply and demand imbalance that’s built up over decades” as a key reason for investing.

The Sterling 20 initiative builds upon last July’s Mansion House Accord, in which major providers voluntarily committed to investing at least 5% of their default funds in UK private markets by 2030. This pledge is expected to unlock over £25bn for the economy.

Alastair King, Lord Mayor of London, said this next stage “transforms commitment into deployment by uniting the UK’s leading investors around a shared vision”. The Office for Investment will work to create a pipeline of projects to match capital with transformational opportunities across the country.