Investment company Amro Partners’ Iberian PBSA portfolio has achieved several significant project milestones this year as it continues to grow its presence in the region and improve on its ESG commitments.
Bookings have opened at its 151-bed Portugese PBSA scheme – Amro Porto – which is launching in January 2024 under the Amro Estudiantes operating brand. Targeting a BREEAM Outstanding rating, the project will provide study rooms, terraces, a gym, padel court and outdoor spaces within a five to 15-minute walk of five higher education institutions including University of Porto and Portucalense University.
Shortly, construction will also start at Amro’s greenest PBSA project based in Alicante; a further significant step up from its existing BREEAM Outstanding rated assets in Seville, Valencia, Madrid and Pamplona. The first student housing development in Spain to adopt a Passivhaus design discipline, Amro Alicante will target a reduction in energy use intensity to just 100kW/m2.yr and total heating demand to <15 kW/m2.yr, with investment in fabric efficiency and solar control in line with the Paris Agreements’ 1.5 degree celsius carbon emissions reduction pathway.
Based on in-house, machine learning-led data insights, Amro also plans to invest in commercially viable energy storage capacity in the next 12 months with the aim of further decreasing reliance on the grid.
Construction is also well underway in Salamanca, one of Spain’s most historic university cities, where Amro is developing a 157-bed student housing scheme which will be one of Spain’s first climate negative buildings on completion in September next year. Salamanca is home to 30,000 students, with approximately 70% in need of dedicated student accommodation, according to Amro’s own research.
Amro’s projects in Valencia and Madrid have also both achieved full occupancy in their first full year of operations, with Seville, which opened in Sept 2022, also forecast to achieve full occupancy before the start of the current academic year.
“Amid challenging market conditions, the Iberian student housing sector continues to prove its remarkable resilience. Occupancy rates across our portfolio are testament to strong demand for high quality, professionally managed student housing and we continue to identify further opportunities for growth, including in new markets such as Germany and the Netherlands where we expect to announce new site acquisitions in the coming months. By future-proofing our portfolio through a combination of fabric efficiency and operational emissions management, using our own in-house data insights, we will drive long-term demand for our proposition from both tenants and investors.”
Raj Kotecha, Co-founder and CEO, Amro Partners
