Hundreds more student flats set for Nottingham city centre

Redoak's scheme on Talbot Street

Nottingham City Council has given the green light for hundreds more student rooms to built across the city.

The plans were given the go-ahead yesterday by the Council, as three sets of proposals were all passed.

The biggest is on Talbot Street where 330 flats will be built, while on land next to Canal Street there will be a further 66 rooms. Finally, on Derby Road, a five-storey scheme will be built.

At the site of the largest scheme on Talbot Street, Redoak will turn the old St Matthews Square site between Talbot Street and Wollaton Street into one of Nottingham’s largest student blocks on the site a former church school building and car showroom.

It’s understood that Redoak considered several potential locations across the Midlands, before making its final decision.

Redoak has already invested in Nottingham, restoring the old Norwich Union House building in Market Square and plans to retain the Talbot Street scheme as a long term, sustainable investment, alongside other similar schemes in their portfolio.

Local architect, Franklin Ellis, has been brought on board to design the scheme.

In July, David Franklin from Franklin Ellis said: “This isn’t just another student resi- scheme for our client. Our brief was to deliver a top quality, affordable living environment for students which would stand the test of time and fit seamlessly into the existing urban environment.

“They are looking to invest long term in the cities and believe this design fulfils a need in the marketplace to deliver well designed space accessible to all students.”

Owners of the Talbot Street site, Heart Church – one of Nottingham’s larger inner-city churches – will now have the opportunity to move to a new Sunday venue.

Heart Church has been looking for larger premises since 2001, when it acquired land opposite its present Talbot Street home, with plans gaining consent in early 2011.

“For many years, we have been growing and that we have struggled to accommodate our congregation,” said Heart Church’s finance manager, Guy Bowen.

“At the moment, we hold four Sunday services at Talbot Street, and a fifth at a venue in the south of the city, and this year, an average of 1,100 people have been attending, so we really want to expand and hopefully plant church campuses elsewhere in Nottingham and, one day, develop churches in other cities throughout Northern England, so the sale of this site has been vital to our future.”

Property advisor, Matthew Smith from the Nottingham offices of JLL who handled the disposal of the land on behalf of Heart said. “Student accommodation is a very attractive asset class at the present time and figures show that £1.9 billion has been invested in the sector so far this year compared to £1.7 billion transacted in the same period last year.

“Naturally when investors are looking to the Midlands, Nottingham stands out for its strong student population, currently standing at some 50,000. It’s a demographic that makes the city a prime candidate for this type of inward investment and one we need to play to our advantage, when there are a lot of other cities in the Midlands all competing for the same share of voice.”

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