Year: 2016

Bristol-headquartered Unite Students has purchased a site in Coventry for a new £24m development.

A 370-bed student accommodation scheme will be constructed on the land, subject to planning, and is scheduled to open for the 2017/18 academic year.

The site is located in the centre of Coventry, near Coventry University’s campus.

Richard Simpson, managing director of property for Unite Students, said: We are delighted to have acquired a further site in Coventry for delivery in 2017.

Coventry University has continued to perform strongly, driving high levels of demand for good quality, well located purpose built student accommodation…

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Standard Life Investments, on behalf of a segregated client, has completed a forward funding deal for a £10.5m student accommodation scheme in Brighton.

The development on Ditchling Road in the city centre has been pre-let to Prime Education and Training, a leading provider of language school programmes in the UK and the US. It will provide 62 student rooms together with dining facilities and 10,000 sq ft of teaching space.

Standard Life Investments and developer, Zise, have entered into a development agreement to deliver the scheme, which was designed by RH Partnership Architects…

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Mark Watkin Jones, group managing director, is the ninth generation of the Watkin Jones family at the helm of the business, which was founded in 1791 by carpenter Huw Jones.

Since becoming md 13 years ago he has transformed a regional Welsh company into a national player with a mix of housing and student accommodation schemes.

The Bangor-based firm lifted turnover to around £250m in last published accounts for 2014 expanding to employ over 300 staff, from a strong pipeline of student accommodation schemes around the country.

Watkins Jones was one of the early players to target the student market outside London and has delivered more than 25,000 student units since 1999.

In the last two years alone the Group has traded in excess of £450m in student assets and delivered to the market over 6,200 student homes…

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Plans have been approved for a mixed-use scheme including up to 10,000 square metres of office space and 705 residential units at Quarry Hill in Leeds after planners concluded that the scheme would ‘regenerate a key city centre site and contribute to its life, vitality and economic prosperity’.

Leeds City Council approved the plans at a meeting earlier this week.

The outline application included proposals for 10,000 square metres of office space, 3,200 square metres of cafes/restaurants; 700 square metres of retail space, approximately 705 residential units – of which approximately 280 units could be used as student accommodation; and 6,000 square metres of education use. There would also be a 578 car parking spaces in a multi-storey car park…

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New £25million plans have been submitted which would uncover the River Sherbourne in the city centre and create new restaurants, cafes and student accommodation.

The proposals cover the area behind The Burges, next to Hales Street and aim to create a new square which will open up the river next to Palmer Lane in a bid to create a visitor attraction.

Developers Complex Development Projects (CDP) and student housing provider Unite Group have submitted the plans to Coventry City Council.

The site is council-owned and forms the last remaining part of the Phoenix Initiative, Coventry’s Millennium project that saw the development of Millennium Place, Priory Place and the Transport Museum as well as the uncovering of the Priory Ruins…

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Vero Group consolidates two of the UK’s leading student accommodation brands; iQ, owned by the Wellcome Trust, and Prodigy Living, owned by Goldman Sachs and Greystar, into one company with a nationwide presence.

The new company will provide high quality, value for money accommodation to residents and university partners through its portfolio of 23,500 beds across 54 sites in the UK.The company plans to expand and modernise its portfolio, while delivering robust financial performance.

Vero Group will be led by a high quality management team with experience in the student accommodation sector.iQ and Prodigy Living will continue to operate under their respective brands and the company will be headquartered in London…

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Plans to demolish a commercial building in the centre of Newcastle and replace it with a six-storey student accommodation block have been resubmitted after they were withdrawn last year shortly before a decision was due.

Crosslane Group has submitted a proposal to demolish the car salesroom and workshop at Formula 1 on Albert Street.

In its place the company wants to build a six-storey student accommodation block comprising 159 rooms. Each floor would be arranged in a cluster pattern with five- or six-bed pods served by one communal living room.

A gym would also be built on the ground floor as well as a plant room and study hub on the first. A total of 48 cycle bays would also be located on the east side of the development…

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Plans have been submitted to demolish a former Liverpool city centre ‘roller rink’ to make way for the latest student accommodation development proposed for the Georgian Quarter.

If given the go-ahead, the project will see a five-to-eight storey building featuring rooftop gardens and 276 studio rooms built on Mulberry Street.

The scheme has caused concern among residents of the area, with a public meeting to be held tomorrow for people to express their views on the plans.

Detailed planning documents reveal ambitions to demolish the former Ritz Roller Rink on the corner of Mulberry Street and Myrtle Street.

Built around 1932, the building suffered bomb damage in WWII, eventually becoming Rodney Youth Centre in 1962. It is now home to a furniture shop, with the former Avis car hire site next door also included in the new-look plans for the busy road…

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Student flats will be built in Inverness city centre after plans were given the green light today.

Members of Highland Council’s South Area Planning Committee approved the development by Inverness Properties.

The 100-bedroom student accommodation block will be housed in Rose Street, which will involve the demolition of the former Rose Street hall and neighbouring two-storey car park.

The development will include three shops and a restaurant on the ground floor, and the four upper storeys will have 25 bedrooms on each floor…

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A £50m block of student accommodation and facilities has been agreed for Swansea University’s £450m Bay Campus.

The development, which is due to welcome its first students in September 2015, is being constructed on land off Fabian Way on the route into Swansea.

St Modwen, the regeneration specialist behind the campus, has signed a Student Accommodation Development Agreement with the University to deliver an additional £50m of student accommodation and student facilities at the site.

The Agreement will see 545 additional student apartments for occupation during the first quarter of 2016.

It will also feature a gym and sports hall, Student Union offices and meeting space, launderette and crèche.

This will bring the total amount of campus space under construction to around 1 million sq ft, including 465,000 sq ft of world-leading research, innovation and education facilities and 1,462 student residences, clustered around communal courtyards, with direct access to the beach and nearby ancillary student amenities…

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