A bid to turn former Liverpool jail the Bridewell into accommodation for students has been approved by Liverpool Council planning chiefs.

The old Bridewell on Cheapside, off Dale Street, will house more than 100 students, who will be housed in the old cells.

The building, which was built in 1857, has been empty for over 10 years, and previous attempts to bring it back to life were hampered by the fact that it is listed, and so major changes to the exterior were not allowed …

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Bardsley Construction has won a £4.7m contract with X1 Developments to refurbish Arndale House in Liverpool’s London Road into 160 student apartments.

The contractor will revamp the upper floors of the building near Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine while retaining existing retail units on the ground floor.

The project involves the refurbishment of the first and second floors to create 80 apartments and the addition of a new two-storey roof top extension to provide another 80 apartments …

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Residents angry at a council’s decision to approve plans to build more than 200 student flats have threatened to pursue a judicial review.

A Durham County Council committee granted developer Connislow planning permission to build 223 student bedrooms in four blocks on the former Fred Henderson garage, on Ainsley Street, Durham City, last December.

The scheme was approved unanimously, despite residents’ concerns over noise and anti-social behaviour and claims the scheme would make the area into a student …

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Manchester-based property development group Opal has confirmed its subsidiary Ocon Construction is to enter administration.

The move follows reports Ocon had lodged a notice of intention to appoint an administrator earlier this week. Ocon was the lead developer on the £50m ‘Crown Place’ project at the University of Liverpool to build a 1,259-bed unit on the site of its former veterinary science school.

The university has set up a new subsidiary to ensure the project can continue …

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The Grade II* listed building, dating back to the 1850s, is deemed to be one of the UK’s best surviving jails.

The building in Cheapside was last used by Merseyside Police in 1999 and was sold by Liverpool council in 2004 …

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Oxford University is fighting demands to pull down newly-built student accommodation described as “brutal” by the author Philip Pullman because the buildings block one of the most famous views of the city.

Campaigners say the five-storey halls of residence, which will house 439 graduates, ruin the famous view of the dreaming spires from Port Meadow, which is itself a scheduled ancient monument.

They claim they were not made aware of the true scale of the £21 million development, and want the University to lower the blocks by two storeys …

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It is one of the most prominent buildings on Southampton’s skyline.  And if council chiefs approve plans to redevelop the 12-storey Brunswick House tower in May, it could become a ‘landmark’ £7.7million redevelopment featuring 156 student flats.

Crummock Estates has handed in a planning application to do the work, and council bosses will run the rule over the plans before reaching a final decision, which is expected by May 14.

The site in Brunswick Place is largely empty at the moment, and in recent years has been marketed as office accommodation …

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Student accommodation firm Unite has enjoyed a year of extraordinary success thanks in part to massive demand from overseas.

The firm, which launched in Bristol over ten years ago, saw its profits soar from £4.7 million last year to a staggering £126 million.

The huge leap is due in part to cost costing but has also been fuelled by demand for university places in the UK from overseas student …

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A site at the heart of Sheffield’s historic industrial quarter is in line for development as a major new student housing project.

Award winning city architectural design company, Mowbray Street-based Coda Studios, has submitted plans to Sheffield Council for the development of the brownfield site at Dun Street.

Named ‘Dun Fields,’ the £2 million project would see the building of 18 student houses, creating 84 bedrooms on land that is close to the city centre …

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Bangor University is seeking a development partner to build and operate a 600-bed hall of residence.

The accommodation would reinstate the St Mary’s site in Lon Pobty which the university vacated several years following its merger with a teacher training college based there.

The new hall is scheduled to be ready by September 2015 …

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