UK & Ireland

Niall McLaughlin Architects has followed up their 2022 Stirling Prize-winning Magdalene College library in Cambridge with plans for a student accommodation scheme in Oxford.

Plans to convert an office block next to the iconic The Old Firehouse pub in Exeter into student flats have been lodged. Beaufort House, on New North Road, would be changed for offices to student accommodation for over 100 people.

A developer has submitted a planning application for 432 new student flats on the same road where it is already building accommodation for 819 students.

Belfast City Council has approved proposals to develop the largest purpose-built managed student accommodation in the city. The 795-bedroom scheme is located close to Ulster University’s new campus.

Newly released Census data show a jump of 16.7% in the number of 16-24-year-olds living in communal establishments between 2011 to 2021.

Over 100 further student flats are planned for the site of a derelict warehouse in Edinburgh. Previous proposals stated the intention to demolish the warehouse on Ashley Place, Bonnington, to make way for 60 student flats. However, revised plans have proposed the number be increased to over 229.

Plans to demolish existing buildings and erect purpose-built student accommodation and a new public food hall on land at Shakespeare Street, North Church Street, and South Sherwood Street, Nottingham, have been tipped for approval.

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has purchased Summergrove Halls near Whitehaven in Cumbria, a hotel which will now provide additional student accommodation within walking distance of UCLan’s Westlakes Campus.

The site of the existing Jubilee House office building has full planning consent for a 36-storey tower providing 716 beds for students.

Plans for a major office scheme in Belfast city centre have been dropped in favour of student housing. Bywater Properties and Ashmour Developments got permission for the office scheme at Smithfield in 2019.