Students and graduates play an important role in creating thriving towns and cities. Attracting them into an area to study is the first critical step and having great homes for them to live in is a key contributory factor. Today's generation of students is also extremely clear on what's important to them from a student accommodation perspective - they're looking for universities and colleges to embrace sustainability and play their part in the journey to net-zero.
Our homebuilding expertise includes the development of new student accommodation, and the fit-out of existing accommodation, as well as the creation of campus communities. We understand the specific challenges of student accommodation, including working in live environments on university campuses with students in residence, carrying out phasing and programming works in line with academic timetables, plus minimising noise and disruption to academic study.
Our innovative approach includes offsite manufacturing techniques, such as lightweight steel frame and factory-assembled bathroom pods, to increase quality and efficiency in delivering student accommodation. Our high-rise residential experience means we can also deliver schemes with high density if space is restricted.
Read about how we're helping customers to deliver student accommodation, including:
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Creating low-carbon, Passivhaus student accommodation at St Peter's College at University of Oxford
- Creating six new student blocks for the University of Northampton
- Repurposing an old office block to create student housing for the University Centre Shrewsbury
Creating low carbon, Passivhaus student accommodation at St Peter's College
We're currently onsite building two, two-storey student accommodation buildings that will provide 54 new bedrooms for students at the University of Oxford.
The buildings will meet the requirements for the Low Energy Building Standard. The buildings will take a fabric-first approach to achieve extremely low energy consumption and high occupant comfort, with a more relaxed target for space heating and airtightness, providing greater flexibility to the design of the building.
This will have a fantastic result for students who rent these bedrooms in the future, as Passivhaus principles are proven to dramatically reduce running costs.
There will also be outside spaces for students to enjoy, including a podium garden with paved and planted areas, and access routes to the main college site.
Creating six new student blocks for the University of Northampton
At Moulton College in Northampton, we created 152 en-suite apartments across six blocks. Each block contains between 26 and 28 rooms. The additional accommodation has allowed more students to live on-site, making their journey to campus significantly easier.
Alongside the en-suite apartments, we also created a range of communal areas including kitchens and dining areas. These communal spaces help to create a community feel and provide areas to socialise outside of a student's private bedroom space.
Given that the new apartments are in close proximity to the university, we took extra care to ensure minimal disruption to students and staff. This included careful planning of deliveries, as well as efficiently controlling noise, dust and fumes.
Repurposing an old office block to create student housing for the University Centre Shrewsbury
An outdated 50-year-old office block has been given a new lease of life through its refurbishment into 85 student apartments. The new apartment block, Mardol House, is made up of self-contained studio apartments with kitchenettes and en-suite facilities, along with an apartment for a university tutor.
This project had some particularly tight timescales attached to it as it needed to coincide with the opening of the University Centre Shrewsbury. We were able to fast-track the project, taking only three months to complete it.
Given its town centre location, we also worked closely with Shropshire Council and the Shrewsbury Business Improvement District to minimise the amount of disruption the project caused to local people and businesses.
For more information, contact our local expert