Category: Development Activity

Renowned for delivering some of the biggest regeneration projects in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), Vita Group announces it will invest €350m in its European expansion programme. The Group is preparing to launch its first scheme outside of the UK – Vita Student Pedralbes in Barcelona which is expected to open in September 2022.

With construction well underway, Vita Student Pedralbes is the Group’s first residence to open in Europe. The PBSA scheme has been designed by prestigious architectural firm Batlle I Roig. The design-led building will deliver 274 student beds and will create a thriving community thanks to its amenities, which include private study and dining rooms, state-of-the-art gym, swimming pool, lounges and hub spaces.

In early 2023, Vita Student Poblenou – the Group’s second PBSA scheme in Spain – will bring a further 349 student beds to Barcelona, opening in the 22@district – another of the city’s student hotspots. Once open, Vita Group will directly employ over 50 new jobs in Barcelona, with total investment into the European expansion set to exceed €350m. The business is expected to indirectly contribute to circa 750 jobs throughout Spain, with the ambition of creating more beds to meet Barcelona’s growing demand for PBSA and ease existing pressures on the city’s housing stock …

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Summix has been given the go-ahead to turn a brownfield site in St Philip’s Marsh, Bristol, into a 595-bed student scheme. Plans for the development, at the corner of Feeder Road and Albert Road, were submitted in April 2019 …

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Watkin Jones, the UK’s leading developer and manager of residential for rent homes, is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of Bristol-based developer Deeley Freed’s consented 819-bed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) development in Bedminster, Bristol.

The c£110m GDV BREEAM ‘Excellent’ scheme is sustainably located just five-minute’s cycle from the University’s new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus and 100 metres from Bedminster Train Station and East Street’s shops, cafes and bars …

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The City of London Corporation has approved a 644-bed student accommodation scheme in the Square Mile that will be supported by the London School of Economics (LSE) …

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Watkin Jones, a developer and manager of residential rental homes including purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), co-living and Built to Rent has announced it has received resolution to grant permission for a 370 bed PBSA scheme in the heart of Swansea. This is the company’s second scheme in the city.

Watkin Jones acquired the site in April 2021. The £35m GDV development is designed to be sustainable and future proofed, targeting a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating. The soft landscaping of the wider site will also add to the urban biodiversity of the area. It’s also expected to add over £24m GVA to the local community over the next ten years, with residents estimated to spend approx. £6.2m annually in Swansea’s city centre. The brownfield site, next to Swansea railway station, is within an easy walk of the city’s universities and previously housed the Valuation Office Agency …

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Unite Students, the UK’s leading owner, manager and developer of student accommodation, has received resolution to grant planning permission for its 700-bed student accommodation development at Derby Road in Nottingham.

The direct-let development, which is located adjacent to the University of Nottingham campus, will open in time for the 2023/24 academic year. We have been successful in securing additional beds for the scheme through the planning process, resulting in total development costs of £57 million.  The scheme will deliver a development yield in line with the Company’s stated targets.

The development will target a BREEAM Excellent rating and net zero carbon in operations through optimised design, integration of solar panels at roof level and an all-electric heating solution, including high efficiency air-source heat pumps. The development will also deliver a substantial biodiversity improvement, through opening and improving access to the River Leen …

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Travelodge’s Nottingham city centre hotel is set to be turned into student accommodation.

A company called Nottingham Hotel Assets Limited wants to turn the building into 121 studio apartments.

A planning statement reads: “This new development will provide high quality stylish student apartments, in the heart of Nottingham …

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A mixed-use scheme that will deliver 143 build-to-rent homes in Hackney Wick, north London has been greenlit at a recent planning committee meeting …

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