Developers are pumping millions of pounds in to building more student accommodation in towns and cities all over the UK.
Construction is underway on several sites that are aiming to open for the 2012 academic year including:
• Four 9 floor blocks on the former BBC World Service site at White City, West London. The £39 million development will house 606 post-graduate students from Imperial College, London.
• Builders have started on halls for 340 students costing £14 million in Stone Street, Paisley, to serve the University of West Scotland.
Developers are having a rougher time in Coventry, where residents and councillors are protesting about several separate student accommodation blocks serving the University of Warwick.
Planning was granted for a block to house 500 students, but the fight is gathering pace to stop four more blocks housing 160 students in Queens Road, development of the former Coventry Evening Telegraph offices as a hotel, flats for students and shops
Developer Corrigan Properties says demand for student flats is up 8% since 2008 to house 21,000 full time students attending Coventry and Warwick universities.
Other current plans for student housing include
• Turning a derelict former builder's yard and cannabis factory in Bangor, Gwynedd, in to homes for 162 students. Residents are protesting about the plans.
• Architects are drawing up plans to build 100 student flats on the site of The Windsor pub in London Road, Liverpool.
• Construction firm Ocon is also ready to unveil another £34 million development for 710 students at Chatham Street, Liverpool.
In Bradford, the second phase of The Gratton development is complete. The mill redevelopment houses 37 students and is 750 metres from campus. The project is for sale with a gross annual rental income of around £227,000.
While in Lincoln, a new 56-bed phase of student rooms has opened at Brayford Quay and is taking bookings for the 2011-2012 academic year.
