MMU to develop ‘townhouse’ campus

MANCHESTER Metropolitan University will break the mould with a new student accommodation development in Hulme, TheBusinessDesk.com can reveal.

MMU, which has already announced plans for a £110m campus at Birley Fields, Hulme, just south of the city centre, will shun lower-cost high rise student flats, and will instead opt for a townhouse style design.

Although at an early stage – a tender for the construction has only just been released – the university expects 700 student rooms to be completed by 2014.

A spokesman said: “We have been looking at university accommodation in Lancaster and Bradford and we want town houses rather than large amorphous blocks.”

Each town house will be home to 12 students each house would have its own front door, back yard and garden and recycling points.

MMU believes there are a number of benefits, social and environmental, about delivering accommodation in this way, compared with large student halls of residents.

These include: fitting in with the local built environment – there are a number of other three-storey townhouse developments in Hulme; it will create a better community spirit; it will encourage the students to behave more like home owners and they will also be responsible for their own carbon footprint.
 
Planning permission has already been grated to MMU for the new campus, which includes academic buildings, an energy centre, car park and outline approval for 1,200 student rooms.