Acquisition paves way for scheme set to be Bristol’s tallest at 28 storeys
A Bristol property has been acquired and will be redeveloped to provide 574 student beds in a scheme which would make it the tallest in the city at 28 storeys.
Cain has revealed its acquisition and redevelopment plans for St James House in partnership with real estate developer Olympian Homes.
The scheme will have a total gross development value of approximately £800m.
St James House will comprise two towers: one featuring 442 beds, and the other offering 132 larger co-living units.
The asset will include approximately 15,000 sqft of amenity space, including a cinema room, a fitness suite, study areas, a games room, and group dining facilities.
Completion is targeted for the 2028/29 academic year. RG Group have been appointed to deliver the scheme, further extending the relationship between Olympian & RG group.
The transaction further bolsters Cain’s growing portfolio in the Living sector across both its equity and credit strategies. In 2023, Cain arranged over £425m of financing across a variety of projects including PBSA, care homes, and Build-to-Rent (BTR) developments across Europe.
HSF (legal) and Colliers (commercial and technical advisory) represented Cain on the transaction which was led by Oliver Cummings (Managing Director – Head of PBSA) and Matteo Busetti (Vice President, Investments) for Cain, and James Lindridge (COO & Development Director) and Oliver D’Erlanger (Associate Director) for Olympian. Olympian were supported by JLL PBSA advisory.
Oliver Cummings, managing director, head of PBSA, Europe at Cain, said: “Home to two major universities, Bristol has seen consistent growth in student numbers to c.70,000 in 2023 representing c.10% of the resident population. Securing an asset in such a central location with convenient transport links, positions us well to meet the strong demand while reinforcing our commitment to delivering high-quality well-amenitised PBSA developments in Russell Group university cities.”
Arvi A. I. Luoma, European Real Estate Equity at Cain, commented: “This development is a key step in expanding our footprint in the PBSA sector, a core vertical of our specialist European investment strategies. We believe the European PBSA market presents substantial growth potential, and this transaction aligns with our goal of delivering over 10,000 beds across key European university cities. Long-term partnerships are central to Cain’s investment approach, and we are pleased to once again collaborate with Olympian Homes to deliver another high-quality asset in a prime location.”
James Lindridge, COO & development director at Olympian, commented: “We are thankful to Bristol City Council for their support throughout the planning journey on this development. Olympian are excited to be delivering another high quality asset in partnership with Cain International and RG Group. The scheme when complete, will be the tallest in Bristol, representing high quality design and helping to resolve the undersupply of purpose built student accommodation in the city centre.”
Richard Simpson, CEO at Olympian, commented: “This prime PBSA Bristol development sale to Cain is an important step in delivering our growth strategy within the UK living sector. Olympian have successfully traded and grown over the last few years and are now a market leader in developing in the UK living space. Our recent focus has been in deepening our development pipeline with high quality opportunities which will deliver this growth strategy over the next few years. Our consistent track record of delivering high rise, high density living assets in city centres ensures we will continue to partner with global institutional capital in successfully delivering this strategy.”
