Gaming pods and private cinema rooms – the demand for student luxury is rising: Yorkshire Post

Many people will remember opening the door of their student halls bedroom for the first time to be greeted with a narrow single bed, an MDF desk and a durable carpet.

There was nothing luxurious about student accommodation but over the last decade the scene has shifted and for many students, the days of sharing a bathroom with four others are long gone.

With fees over a three-year degree course approaching £30,000, it appears that students are no longer prepared to accept poor quality accommodation.

According to property agent GVA, the latest generation of student accommodation typically includes fast broadband and wi-fi, shared study areas, plus flexible communal facilities in a secure environment. However, there is also a growing appetite for the top of the market with buildings featuring fitness suites, gaming pods and even private cinema rooms.

Deluxe student accommodation is increasing in cities like Leeds, Sheffield and York, which attract thousands of international students to study there every year.

However, a quick search throws up some eye-watering options for 18-year-olds today. One of the most expensive in Leeds is a studio apartment at YPP’s new Oasis Residence on Cookridge Street, which will set you back nearly £300 per week – more than double the average student rent in Leeds of £141.

According to the 2018 Leeds Crane Survey, the introduction of luxury student accommodation “recognises the need to provide high quality accommodation with additional amenity space and services beyond the traditional private bed student accommodation cluster flats”.

Read more at: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/gaming-pods-and-private-cinema-rooms-the-demand-for-student-luxury-is-rising-1-9337206

SPH buys 14 UK student accommodation buildings for $321m

Reported by Singapore Business Review

They have a total capacity of 3,426 beds.

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) acquired a portfolio of student accommodation buildings in the United Kingdom for $321m (£180.5m) from developer and operator Unite Group PLC, an announcement revealed. The transaction was carried out through its subsidiaries Straits One (Jersey), Straits Two (Jersey) Limited and Straits Three (Jersey).

The 14 Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) buildings are located across six towns and cities in established university towns including London, Birmingham, Bristol, Huddersfield, Plymouth, and Sheffield. With a total capacity of 3,436 beds for student accommodation, the properties include 10 freehold assets and 4 leasehold assets.

“The acquisitions will boost our real estate asset management portfolio, establish us as an overseas owner of PBSA in the U.K, and allow us to pursue other growth opportunities in this sector,” SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung said.

SPH noted that student accommodation in the UK stands at the national average of 2.8 students to each bed. With said data, they believe that it poses growth potential, with demand expected from both domestic and international students.

UK tops overseas cash inflows despite Brexit

UK tops overseas cash inflows despite Brexit: Knight Frank

A slide, cocktail bars and a cinema room: inside the UK’s most luxurious student accommodation

Full story at the Daily Telegraph property section

Forget the damp basements, slugs climbing up the walls and lumpy mattresses of your university halls. Developers have realised that they have to work much harder to attract the current crop of students and their rent money.

A slew of student properties across the country now boast features including rooftop bars, saunas, cinema rooms and even a helter skelter, to make getting out of bed and off to morning lectures that little bit more tempting.

Boasting some of the wackiest design is True Glasgow, where KKA Architects installed a giant slide in its accommodation block. There are also indoor swings, and a so-called dedicated festival area, comprising a renovated caravan to listen to music in, deck chairs and picnic benches. And, of course, study rooms – they are students after all.

Theresa May urged to drop personal allegiances and allow new homes on Greenbelt land to help solve housing crisis

Published in the Sunday Telegraph 9th September 2018

Theresa May is being urged to find the “political courage” to drop her opposition to building on green belt land to help tackle the housing crisis.

In a new paper, Simon Clarke, a Tory member of the Commons Treasury select committee, describes progress on building new homes as “painfully slow” and says current restrictions imposed on the buffer zones have become the “central obstacle”.

The paper, published by Freer, a new Conservative think tank, proposes relaxing rules on building homes within half a mile of railway stations – areas that are likely to be in “high demand” and are already well served by transport links.

Mr Clarke says his plan would free up land for at least 1.5 million new homes. The proposal is understood to have the backing of several senior ministers.

Link to full story