Student accommodation scheme approved
The City of Worcester’s Planning Committee have given unanimous approval to the conversion of a Grade II-listed building in the city into student accommodation.
The new conversion will comprise 147 bedroom Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), including a gym, a cinema room, study facilities, a laundry, communal spaces and 42 studio flats.
The University of Worcester subcontracts 500 bed spaces to private landlords, so it is hoped that this development will tackle this problem directly and reduce the strain on the local non-student residential lettings market, by providing self-contained accommodation for the city’s growing student population, which is well above the national average in terms of its rapid growth.
Patrick Garratt of Purple Frog said: “We are delighted that we have seen this development unanimously approved by Worcester City Council’s Planning Committee, it is tremendously heartening to know that those in the city have seen the benefits of the project and are supporting us to see it into fruition. The Henwick private halls will provide the best quality accommodation to enable students to make the most of their time at the University of Worcester. Purple Frog is excited to be helping to fix this problem.”
Purple Frog have a big national portfolio of student properties in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Loughborough and Nottingham. In the academic year 2017/18 they have let over 4,300 bedrooms to students.
Garratt continued: ” Worcester is on the cusp of becoming a hive of higher education activity; but with this boost comes the demand for student-specific housing, to mitigate the demand on landlords and local residents alike. We are looking forward to meeting the demand and providing a proper level of service to the tenants, the landlords, the investors, and being good neighbours with the local community.”
All parties to this development will now start to work on the delivery of the project, with the aim of having it ready for the 2020/21 student intake.
