Investment management firm – Harrison Street – and joint venture partner Torsion Developments Limited, a regional UK platform focused on student housing announce the construction of a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) development on Traffic Street in Nottingham.
The five-story development will deliver 297 student beds – a mix of en-suite cluster beds and studios. Amenities include a lounge area, gym, game room, study zones and garden. The development is within walking distance of Nottingham’s city centre and several restaurants, bars and entertainment options. Residents also benefit from a short five minute walk to the University of Nottingham’s soon-to-be expanded and refurbished city centre campus.
“We are excited to invest in a high-quality student housing project that will deliver much needed accommodation to Nottingham’s steadily growing student population. The development is well situated on Traffic Street and will address a significant demand for top-tier purpose-built student housing with high-end amenities driven by the impending influx of students to the University of Nottingham’s refurbished city centre campus.
“We are deeply familiar with the Nottingham market through our life sciences investments that serve both research universities. We look forward to expanding our partnership with Torsion to identify additional attractive opportunities in leading university cities that generate value for our investors and partners.”
Paul Bashir, Chief Executive Officer of Harrison Street’s European business
Nottingham is home to two major universities – University of Nottingham (part of Russell Group) and Nottingham Trent University. It has the fourth largest student population and the second-highest unmet demand for student beds in the UK, outside of London. Over the last several years, Nottingham has also recorded the UK’s second fastest growth in university enrolment, with a five year cumulative growth rate of 23.1%, and strong occupancy and rental growth rates that have proven resilient throughout the pandemic.
The new scheme on Traffic Street is the third joint UK PBSA development for Harrison Street and Torsion following the August 2020 closing of Pine Mill, a 361-bed student housing development in Lincoln which has innovative sustainability measures, and the November 2020 closing of Curzon Circle, a 290-bed PBSA development in Birmingham.
Including the Nottingham development, Harrison Street and Torsion’s portfolio now comprises 948 beds across three sub-markets in UK student housing. Both companies plan to increase the venture’s total portfolio size to over 2,000 beds through more development deals. As an active investor in alternative real estate sectors, Harrison Street has almost 17,000 student accommodation beds.
