UK & Ireland

Specialist real estate finance provider Maslow Capital has completed a £14 million development loan to support the delivery of a 76-unit Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) scheme in Edinburgh.

Art-Invest Real Estate has secured planning approval from Southwark Council for its Plot B proposals at Dockside Canada Water following an overhaul of its plans, switching it from an office-led proposal to purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).

Plans to demolish a former Edinburgh bowling club and replace it with student flats have taken a step closer. On April 7, a pre-application notice was submitted to the council to bulldoze 36 Russell Road, the former Caledonian Bowling Club, and replace it with purpose-built student accommodation.

A vacant office building in Sunderland city centre is set to be transformed into purpose-built student accommodation. Ashbrookes Inspired, part of Ashbrookes Group, has secured planning permission for the £4.2m development.

L&G has announced the acquisition of The Place, Nottingham, on behalf of L&G’s Institutional Retirement business to bolster its Student Living portfolio. L&G was advised by Macfarlanes, Cast advising on technical due diligence, EY on corporate due diligence and MTRE as acting agent.

New plans to demolish a former Edinburgh law building for student flats are to be submitted after previous proposals were unsuccessful. In June 2024 the Development Management Sub Committee refused permission for 174 student beds at 140 Causewayside, the former Scottish Law Commission building.

The 18-storey purpose-built student block will rise on India Street, close to the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University, with construction expected to complete by July 2027.

Osborne Clarke advised European Student Housing Fund II on the sale of the prestigious student accommodation building in Wrocław, known as Basecamp Wrocław, to Xior Student Housing.

Blacklight Capital Partners, which took on the stalled PBSA scheme in 2022 and can now report 100% occupancy, has appointed Savills to find a buyer for the asset, Place North West understands. Blacklight has made its mark in the city by taking on a trio of student living projects that had stalled.

Real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has appointed James Woolley as Head of UK Student Accommodation. Woolley, who has specialised in the PBSA market for the last 14 years, joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2021 as a Partner to lead PBSA Valuations.