Year: 2010

A block of student flats in Leicester has been evacuated by safety inspectors over concerns that the building breaches fire safety regulations.

The fifty residents of the Conduit Street property – mainly students from the University of Leicester and DeMontford University – were evacuated by the fire service on Wednesday after a number of them contacted the fire service to voice concerns that the building was unsafe. The students were put up for the night in nearby hotels, at a cost to the landlord of £2,500.

On inspection of Lilly House, fire safety experts found a number of serious problems with what has been called an ‘unfinished’ building …

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Student accommodation provider Unite has reported a slight increase in the net asset value (NAV) of its UK student accommodation fund.

For the third quarter of 2010 the group reported that the NAV had risen by 0.1% to £0.799 per unit, from £0.798 at 30 June 2010.

The value of the assets held in the quarter increased by 0.5% on a like for like basis …

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A new department store is likely to lie at the heart of an expansion of Poole’s busy shopping centre.

With ambitious plans afoot for the Dolphin Shopping Centre to almost double in size, Poole could turn into a shoppers’ paradise to rival anything its neighbours have to offer.

There is plenty of space to expand on the Seldown side, currently providing parking for cars, and at the rear where buses are parked at the Kingland Road bus station depot …

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Plans to redevelop part of York’s chocolate heritage into homes, offices and shops were today going on public view.

The Nestlé South scheme, on part of the confectionery giant’s factory site, could create hundreds of new jobs, with the firm having submitted two planning applications to City of York Council.

Representatives from the Nestlé development team will stage an exhibition of the proposals in the Koosh Rooms at Haxby Road Primary School from 5pm before attending City of York Council’s Clifton ward committee meeting at 7pm at the same venue, where the blueprint will also be on the agenda …

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More than £250,000 is set to be brought in to council coffers from deals that will be struck on two new developments.

A planning application for the first phase of the redevelopment of the former Fountain Brewery site has now been lodged with planners. Site owner Lloyds Banking Group plans to sell a small section on the west side of the site it owns to Cityheart Limited, which wants to build student flats for Napier University, as well as a commercial units, a public park and a library.

The council owns a small patch of land that used to be a tenement block on the site, and it has agreed to sell it to Lloyds for £150,000 …

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Dozens of students were left homeless when their multi-millionaire landlord was accused of failing to meet fire safety rules.

They were kicked out of the new apartments after inspectors claimed the building had not had the necessary safety checks.

The 145-bedroom development, The Grafton, proved popular as it is in the heart of the Manchester student district …

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Mansell will start work later this month on a £13.4m design and build contract to construct an eleven-storey student accommodation block development at The Minories in the City London for Urbanest.

The scheme will comprise ten-storeys of student accommodation, with 172 bedrooms, 131 with individual en-suite shower pods, 41 with shared bathroom and shower facilities.

The complex will be arranged in a number of clusters, with 46 individual studios with integrated kitchenettes. The ground and basement floors will provide 220 square metres of retail space, in addition to the reception, common areas and ancillary spaces for the student accommodation …

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A prominent former insurance building in Plymouth city centre is to be transformed into student flats — if planners give the ambitious scheme the go-ahead.

A Bristol-based developer has submitted plans to house 75 students in the Royal Buildings at St Andrew’s Cross.

The news comes almost five years after the former Royal and Sun Alliance base changed hands in a deal worth more than £4.25 million …

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UPP has opened the first phase of £133m student digs at the University of Exeter …

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Demolition work will start next month to clear a site earmarked for a new accommodation block providing rooms for 400 students. The new building will be called “City Living”, and will be the first of a total of four new planned blocks across London.

London has a total of 260,000 full-time students, with 90,000 coming from overseas, but the city currently has purpose-built accommodation for 16% of this number. Finsbury Park has for many years been a popular area for students to live during termtime, being close to the northern campuses of London Metropolitan University, Middlesex University and The University of the Arts …

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