Bristol still has a shortfall of more than 30,000 purpose-built places for students to live – despite a massive programme of building accommodation blocks across the city.
That’s the verdict of property agents experts who have highlighted a shortage – what they describe as ‘an estimated unmet demand’ – of more than 31,700 students who cannot access what is known as PBSAs – purpose-built student accommodation.
This week, bosses at commercial real estate firm CBRE said the huge expansion of both the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England meant the city was still struggling to find places for them to live, and couldn’t build the PBSAs quickly enough to satisfy the demand.
CBRE are marketing a new site in the heart of what is a rapidly-transforming area of Bristol around The Dings in St Philips, where this September the University of Bristol will open a new campus.
Plans for another student accommodation site, this time housing 494 students in three tall tower blocks, have already been given permission by councillors. The site has been cleared on what is being called Freestone Island – just south of the railway line between Gas Lane and Kingsland Road, close to The Dings in St Philips – and now it is up for sale to be bought by a PBSA developer.
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The area is part of the wider Temple Quarter regeneration project, that will see thousands of students live and study at the new University of Bristol campus on the other side of the Floating Harbour next to Temple Meads station.
Planning permission was granted for three blocks of flats that could house 494 students, as well as a gym, studio, cinema, communal lounges, four external courtyards and even a karaoke booth. There’s also an amendment to the plan that could see up to 518 students live there.
Prof Evelyn Welch at the site of the University of Bristol’s new Temple Quarter campus(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
But now the site is up for sale, and is being marketed by CBRE.
“It’s extremely rare to be able to offer such a well-located, consented PBSA opportunity that is immediately ready to commence construction in Bristol,” said Nic Rumble, a senior director at CBRE.
“The demolition has been completed, the site is remediated, Gateway 2 approved, and even part of the CIL payments have been paid. This is as build-ready as you can get. Couple that with a super-prime location directly opposite a brand new university campus, in the middle of the UK’s largest regeneration project, and you have a site that we hope will be of interest to the development markets.
“The structural demand for student accommodation in Bristol is not going away; this is a rare opportunity to step straight into it,” he added.
Illustration of the proposed new building from Bond Street, opposite Cabot Circus – plans for new student flats next to Cabot Circus car park(Image: AHMM)
CBRE said that the student accommodation boom is not going to fade any time soon, given there is still a huge shortage of PBSAs in Bristol. “Bristol is the sixth largest higher education market in the UK outside London, with a combined full-time student population of 58,190 across the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, a figure that has grown by more than 54% since 2012,” said a spokesperson for the firm.
“Despite this, the city has only 21,250 purpose-built student beds in operation, leaving an estimated unmet demand of more than 31,700 students who cannot access PBSA due to a lack of supply,” he added.