Sadiq Khan will cap student rents in a new PBSA development
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, will cap rents in a massive new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) development being built in the capital.
The unit in Hammersmith will have 713 beds for students from various London universities and 357 of those rooms will be at an affordable rent.
And that rent will be capped by the mayor.
'Make housing more affordable in the capital'
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London told Accommodation for Students: "The Mayor continues to campaign to make housing more affordable in the capital and strengthen renters' rights and has delivered record-breaking levels of genuinely affordable homebuilding since he was elected.
"Students are often among those at the sharp end of the national cost-of-living crisis and through his London Plan, Sadiq has backed discounted affordable student accommodation in new developments which caps rents at levels linked to students' maintenance loans for living costs, helping to ensure that London can continue to be a city of opportunity for all."
Project is supported by NatWest and Virgin Money
The new project is supported by NatWest and Virgin Money and is a partnership between Scape Living Plc and Dominvs Group.
Dominvs has collaborated with Imperial College London, which has seen its student population grow by almost 20% in the last five years.
Imperial looks set to take up most of the rooms once completed with other nearby institutions taking the remainder.
The PBSA will have various amenities including a workspace and meeting rooms, a cinema, a gym, communal kitchens, bike storage and a roof terrace.
The building is scheduled for a June 2025 completion to meet the 2025/26 academic year.
'Affordable and fit for purpose accommodation'
The director of financial strategy at Imperial College London, John Anderson, said: "A key factor in sustaining any successful innovation ecosystem is the sufficient availability of affordable and fit for purpose accommodation for critical communities of rare talent.
"Opportunities like this will increase the capacity to ensure that talent can emerge from any background and not just the most privileged."
He added: "Half the student rooms will be affordable student rooms delivered to a high specification.
"We have been working with Dominvs group for these to be allocated to Imperial students."
'Strongly believe the affordable bedrooms'
Jay Ahluwalia, the principal at Dominvs, said: "We are pleased to have the support of Imperial College on this scheme and strongly believe the affordable bedrooms – 359 in this case – will be of significant benefit to students in years to come.
"The mixed-use nature of our proposal speaks to our ability to continually create value across different asset classes in response to the needs of the local area and market conditions."
He added: "This extends our track record of success across student accommodation, hospitality and residential-led developments."
'Rent cap' for student accommodation
Simon Thompson, the managing director of Accommodation for Students, said: "There will be a lot of student landlords take note of the word 'rent cap' for student accommodation.
"While this looks like a good idea to widen participation in higher education, we need to understand that it can be suitable for some PBSA developments."
He added: "Indeed, it is a good idea if it works, and that genuinely poor students get access to a world class education - no one can argue with that.
"However, this is for a specific project and a rent cap for student accommodation in London generally is not a good idea and wouldn't work."
