Year: 2013

A facilities management group based in Harrogate has signed a 10-year joint venture agreement with Acis Group to co-own and manage more than 1,100 units for students, which were acquired from the Beach Student Accommodation Fund in a deal worth £40m.

The JV, called Eione LLP, will see Acis Group take a 51 per cent share with Derwent FM owning 49 per cent. The idea is for Eione is to be a one-stop-shop for student accommodation and facilities management.

Both residences, the Trigon in Sheffield and Raleigh Park in Nottingham, will be operated by Derwent Students, the specialist student accommodation division set up by Derwent FM in January …

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A massive £30million investment  will see nearly 900 new student rooms built on the campus of Plymouth University.

The two-year programme of building and refurbishment will create hundreds of jobs.

Four completely new buildings will be built – including a dramatic “gateway” building on the edge of North Cross, overlooking Armada Way …

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Property developer Macdonald Estates Group claims posting a pre-tax profit of £2.1 million is a “major achievement” given the difficulties in the market.

Accounts filed at Companies House show profit fell almost 35% from the near £3.2m of 2011 on the back of a similar slide in turnover from £21.7m to £14.2m for 2012.

Chief executive Dan Macdonald admitted commercial property conditions were the most difficult he had seen in his lifetime.

The Edinburgh firm has benefited from development deals for supermarkets and more recently has been active in student accommodation …

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A site for a £25 million development of student housing has been set-aside by Carlyle Group, which will now see the development of a 19-storey, 417 bedroom student housing tower.

The scheme has been brought about by Pure Student Living, the joint venture between Carlyle Group and Generation Estates.

Located on 60 Commercial Road, the site has been bought in a £17 million deal and includes two additional properties in Whitechapel, which will also be needed for the development …

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Residents are considering seeking a judicial review after a council spurned their plea that planning consent for more than 200 student flats be revoked.

Durham County Council gave developer Connislow the go-ahead to build four blocks containing 223 student bedrooms on the former Fred Henderson garage, in Ainsley Street, Durham, shortly before Christmas.

A planning committee backed the scheme unanimously, despite neighbours saying the developmentwould turn the area into a “student ghetto” and Durham University raising concerns over its management and lack of communal facilities …

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Plans to bulldoze a closed Cambridge pub and build student accommodation have been recommended for approval.

Lucy Cavendish College wants to replace The Ranch in Histon Road with two blocks containing 59 en-suite rooms, four one-bedroom flats and four two-bedroom flats.

New rules have been brought in to protect the city’s pubs from redevelopment, but planning officer Toby Williams said the continued viability of The Ranch was “questionable” …

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Plans to demolish an old furniture warehouse and replace it with student flats, shops and a gym look set to be scuppered.

A planning application to knock down the old Buxtons building in Ditchling Road, Brighton, has been recommended for refusal as Brighton and Hove City Council fears it could lead to a glut of student housing.

Developers want to build a four- floor student accommodation building with 86 rooms, a restaurant, a shop and offices at the site …

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The derelict Head Post Office in Fitzalan Square is due to be converted into a college for overseas students as part of a proposed £16m development that includes a neighbouring 18-storey tower of student flats.

Plans have been submitted to the council with a view to the teaching accommodation being ready by July next year and the accommodation more than 270 students by July 2015.

Details have yet to be assessed by the council, although the prospect of the restoration of the old post office, a listed building that closed in 1999, will be welcomed across the board …

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A university in north Lancashire has revealed major refurbishment plans for a high-rise hall of residence.

The 14-storey Bowland Tower at Lancaster University was built in 1968 and has not been used since July 2008.

The university has now submitted plans to the city council to reopen it and make it fit for modern student accommodation …

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Work has begun on the refurbishment of one of the town’s best-known buildings.

Threadworks, previously known as Thatcher’s soft furnishings, is the first property to be turned into student accommodation under the council’s Bringing Clusters Of Empty Homes Into Use scheme.

Funding of £2.8m was secured by the council last year as part of a scheme to revitalise Huddersfield and Dewsbury town centres and meet wider economic needs in the district.The Thatcher’s building is in a prominent location in the town centre and has been vacant since the end of 2011 …

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