Year: 2009

Ballymun could be the location of Trinity’s newest student accommodation, if proposals from the Ballymun Regeneration Limited (BRL) are accepted.  

The College is currently seeking tenders from contractors to build a complex large enough to accommodate 1,000 students. The College has specified that it is looking for proposals that offer developments within a 2.5km radius of the university or a 30-minute rush-hour commute.  

BRL was founded by Dublin City Council in 1997 to oversee the development of the town.  €2.5 billion later, the town has seen a huge change.  Following the demolition of the Ballymun Towers, affordable housing and apartments have been built, as well as eco-friendly private developments …

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University students in the UK should pay more for their loans and accept higher tuition fees as “inevitable”, says a report from business leaders.

The Confederation of British Industry says the extra money needed to fund universities should come from savings in the student support system.

It also calls for more sponsorship and bursaries from businesses …

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More than 150,000 students are still waiting for their university funding to come through from the Student Loans Company one week after chief executive Ralph Seymour-Jackson apologised for delays.

Most students will begin the trek to universities and colleges this weekend, but some may have to resort to extra parental help or hardship funds to see them through the first few weeks if their loans do not arrive.

Last week Universities UK, which represents vice chancellors in higher education, said that universities had responded sympathetically to the situation and most had measures in place to help cash-strapped students …

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Kier Group and Galliford Try were once hard to tell apart: hybrid mid-cap companies with one hob-nailed boot in housebuilding and the other in construction.

No longer. Whereas Galliford last week tied its fortunes to the residential market, raising £126 million through a rights issue to double the scale of its housebuilding division within two years, Kier is heading in the other direction …

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The unique character of one of Edinburgh’s colony communities is under threat from a proposed housing development on its boundary, residents say. 

The proposal to build more than 100 homes, including 40 student flats, on Slateford Road has raised around 80 letters of objection from members of the public.

Neighbours have set up the Flower Colonies Area Residents’ Association in order to fight the plan …

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Three contractors have booked their places for the race to build 14 student accommodation blocks for the University of Sussex worth £30m.

Mansell, Leadbitter and Ocon have all been invited to tender for the university’s Northfield site in Brighton which will contain 777 student rooms.

Work is due to start in January with completion due by July 2011 following an 18-month construction phase …

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Universities are complaining that they are having to pick up the bill for delays in students’ loans and grants.

Student Finance England has apologised for a backlog of applications and says it is trying to get at least interim payments out to people.

As terms start, universities are allowing provisional enrolments and seeking only partial rents …

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Students doubling up in bunk beds, night-time lectures and overflowing seminars are set to be a feature of the new academic term as universities stretch themselves to the limit in preparation for the biggest ever intake of freshers next week.

The “no vacancies” signs have gone up at university halls and students are being farmed out to private flats to ensure everyone has a bed for freshers’ week. Exeter University has had to convert single bedrooms into double accommodation. About 200 students will spend their first year sleeping in bunk beds, with rent discounted from £170 a week to £110.

Other universities have scheduled extra lectures at night and increased class sizes to accommodate the boom in numbers. The record-breaking year comes after a 10% rise in applications and a decision by the government to expand the number of places by 13,000, fuelled in part by more people wanting to study in the recession …

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Student housing developer Unite Group is raising £82m by selling new shares at 250p to City investors as it seeks to exploit a dearth of student homes in London.

The shares soared in morning trade today, rising 7.25p to 286.25p by lunch – a 2.6% gain.

Unite chief executive Mark Allan said the objective this next year is to buy up three years’ worth of development land while prices are low, and deliver those from 2012 to 2014 …

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Student housing developer Unite Group is to raise 82 million pounds of fresh capital via a sale of 32.8 million shares at 250 pence each to exploit a dearth of student homes across London.

The £77.8 million of net proceeds from the Firm Placing, Placing and Open Offer will be used to finance planned acquisitions of new development sites in London, where Unite sees “compelling” opportunities at attractive prices …

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