Student Accommodation - University Challenge

5 December 2023

Student Accommodation - University Challenge

Traditional halls of residence are making way for a far more luxurious offering.

STUDENT ACCOMMODATION used to be a spartan affair, giving freshers the opportunity to bond with their classmates during the queue for the loo, the wait for the shower or their turn for the sandwich toaster that was growing new life forms in the corner of the kitchen.

One Pool Street, by the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, comprises two residential towers, containing over 500 student rooms, raised above 4,600 sq m of multifunctional space that houses the teaching and experimental laboratories, including UCL’s Centre for Robotics. The lower levels, including the café and bar, are open to the public, and the lecture theatre doubles as a student cinema in the evenings. The residential towers are slender slab blocks, clad in curved concrete panels with wide overhangs to shade the south and west elevations from the sun. Each cluster of rooms has a glazed common room with stunning views. Architect: Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands Client: University College London Contractor: Vinci Landscape: Bradley-Hole Schoenaich Landscape Architects Photos: Paul Riddle

Alternately stiflingly hot or bone chillingly cold, and with a constant aroma of old socks, burnt toast and stale beer, somewhere in the first term it started to be referred as “home”, and soon afterwards began to feel like it as well. But fast forward a few decades and university housing is a different story. En suite accommodation is becoming the norm, with small group flats and even self-contained apartments offering a multitude of choices – at a price. ‘Today’s younger generations want to live in high-quality, aesthetic spaces that have the ‘wow-factor’ and allow them to live, study and work in a vibrant and engaging community,’ notes Darren Gardner, chief operating officer at Nido Student, a fastgrowing PBSA (purpose-built student accommodation) provider.

It’s hardly surprising that Gen Z youngsters expect nice surroundings – only around one in five of today’s UK teens will have shared a room with a sibling and, apart from the odd camping trip, very few indeed will have ever shared bathrooms with nonfamily. Turn the clock back to the university building boom of the 1960s, when seven new campuses were built in the UK, including York, Essex and Warwick, and the rows of private rooms and shared facilities were an improvement on what many people saw at home. The 1961 Census showed that in many rural areas, particularly Wales and Norfolk, more than half the population didn’t even have an indoor loo, and nearly half a million people in London and the big cities still lived in slums and tenements with multiple families sharing toilets.

Along with changes in expectation, changes in funding have also altered the landscape in the UK. From 1962 to the early ’90s, university was more or less free, with tuition fees paid and generous grants to cover accommodation – so if the halls of residence were a bit basic, they were at least free and everyone was in the same situation. Now, according to pressure group Save the Student, the average maintenance loan is just £470 a month, while the average student pays £641 per month in rent – creating both an incentive to shop around for value and a free market economy where students from more affluent homes can enjoy greater luxury. Student Luxe, for example, offers serviced, hotel-style facilities in prime locations for well-heeled students from £580 up to an eye-watering £3,800 a week.

Universities now function as businesses, and are reliant on attracting customers – especially lucrative overseas students. As many of those choosing to study in the UK from abroad come from wealthy families, expectations are high, fuelling the race to the top in terms of accommodation quality. Alex Lifschutz of LDS has seen it in action at Imperial College London, which had 61% overseas students in 2020–21: ‘They had permission to knock down a 1970s building because they couldn’t get students to accept they had to share loos. Students have changed and they aren’t prepared to share, so Imperial rebuilt the block all with en suites. It’s also more practical to use as conference accommodation in the summer.’

Habib Bourguiba Hall is the second student residence for the Fondation de la Maison de Tunisie, funded by the Tunisian government, set in the grounds of Paris’s Cité Internationale Universitaire. The curvaceous building, clad with calligraphy-based art, includes 199 student beds and kitchen, dining and social space, plus an auditorium, café and garden open to the public. Architect: Explorations Architecture Client: Fondation de la Maison de Tunisie Facade artwork: Shoof Main contractor: Eiffage Construction Habitat Photos: Salem Mostefaoui

LDS’s latest student project, One Pool Street, is part of UCL’s new East Campus, and provides both homes and educational facilities for more than 500 students close to the Olympic Park, in a rare example of universityowned new accommodation. However, few educational institutions have the money to build the quality of accommodation that brings in students – so a variety of models involving the private sector have developed. Some institutions are entering into DBFO (design, build, finance, operate) agreements on campus, such as the University of York’s partnership with Civitas to provide 1,400 new student beds or University of Exeter’s arrangement with UPP to demolish 30 existing buildings and create 1,700 new beds at its West Park Campus.

Elsewhere, off-campus, stand-alone privately operated buildings, such as The Piano Works in Hackney designed by Henley Halebrown for Southern Grove, The Cam Foundry in Cambridge designed by TP Bennett for Aparto and various developments from Nido Student, welcome residents from multiple universities. In fact, universities now wholly own and run just 41% of student rooms according to 2021 research by real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield, and the trend is downwards.

While private sector investment has enabled universities to expand and provide better quality homes for increasing numbers of young people, some argue that hard-up students are now bank-rolling big business and overseas investors. A report by Knight Frank about the UK PBSA market revealed that in 2021, investment from Asia in UK student property was in excess of £400m – for example, Singapore-based Q Investment Partners operates a £150m portfolio of around 1,000 student bedrooms in Edinburgh, Nottingham, Sheffield and London and has recently snapped up a new development in Leeds. Cushman & Wakefield’s UK Student Accommodation report values the UK PBSA market in excess of £60bn, with yields of up to 8%, so investors’ interest is hardly surprising.

Better accommodation has to be a good thing (even students can do without rising damp and rodents), but there are questions to be asked. The student maintenance loan increased by just 2.3% in 2022 (against doubledigit inflation) and only those with a family income of less than £25,000 get the full amount, leaving most with funding that doesn’t cover the cost of student halls, let alone luxurious studios. And while students have traditionally moved off-campus to cheaper shared private rentals from the second year, a combination of rising student numbers and a reduction in homes to rent (thanks in part to deliberate planning restrictions on student HMOs) has seen chaotic scenes, with reports of students queuing all night for viewings in Durham and sleeping in bunks in hastily converted common rooms at Edinburgh University.

York already has a rental accommodation shortage and the council has proposed more restrictions on HMOs. The new David Kato College is one of two new colleges that form part of a DBFO agreement between the University of York and Civitas to provide 1,400 bed spaces, allowing all students to stay on campus throughout their course. The new rooms are en suite and laid out in flats, sharing a kitchen, with access to a central hub with study spaces, quiet rooms and social spaces. Client: University of York Design & Build: Civitas Contractor: Graham Construction Photos: Alex Holland

A 2021 report from the National Union of Students (NUS) and housing charity Unipol notes that campus rents have risen by 16% since before the pandemic, with a growing scarcity of affordable rooms, such as twin rooms and those with shared bathrooms, as private halls providers focus on the more desirable en suites and studios. The survey also found that rents in private halls were up to 24% dearer than those owned and run by universities. Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, NUS vice-president for higher education, says: ‘The affordability of student accommodation affects students’ educational experience, and also has a major impact on access and widening participation. It’s disgraceful that so many young people are priced out, either deterred or unable to apply to university, or have their options severely limited by where they can afford to live.’

RODO6, a new small-scale student hall in El Arenal in Seville is hidden in a maze of narrow streets and had to blend with traditional architecture without resorting to mimicry. The calming white building uses traditional and sustainable materials, including lime mortar and glazed ceramics. Bedrooms are organised around a central, light-filled courtyard and fountain, providing a meeting place for students, while the wide walkways also provide informal places to gather. Architect: García & Melero Arquitectos Developer: Suresa Chaparro SL Almudena Melgarejo Metalwork: Gmetal Photos: Pablo Díaz Fierros

Experts also suggest that premium selfcontained apartments might actually be the worst option for students settling in to their new life. A report in the British Journal of Social Psychology (Easterbrook and Vignoles) found that shared toilets and communal spaces helped students make friends more quickly and experience higher levels of wellbeing, while other studies have made a link between sociable accommodation and higher levels of achievement and lower drop-out rates.

Such has been the concern about student well-being in the UK that the Student Mental Health Research network funded a study at the University of Liverpool, looking at how students felt the design of their accommodation helped or hindered their mental health. Most spoke of the desire to have a private bedroom as a sanctuary, and preferred “family sized” groupings rather than sharing a kitchen with larger numbers, and clusters of rooms rather than linear halls. Comfortable sofas where everyone could sit down and a dining table where they could all eat at once was also considered essential.

At tp bennett, which has a strong portfolio of student accommodation for universities and PBSA providers, director Neege Allen- Navarria is aware that expectations are high. He says: ‘High-quality amenities are now seen as a standard prerequisite. Student accommodation must be designed as destination spaces, with spaces like games area, cinema rooms, gyms, dining facility as well as a variety of study spaces.’ The rush to higher quality, however, doesn’t mean that student well-being is left behind. ‘At the height of the pandemic, there was a momentum towards more self-contained rooms and studios. However, this was a fleeting trend and instead, what we have seen persist, is the importance of designing for neurodiversity to enhance student well-being. This is applicable to bedrooms, social spaces and amenities.

Torre Student Living, at the West Campus of the University of Texas, Austin, is an 18-storey tower featuring 153 units and 558 beds in a variety of configurations, from studios to six-bedroom homes. The ground floor features a sculptural canopy that gives way to an open lounge, while facilities include a rooftop pool, hot tub, gym, yoga room, rooftop lounge and firepit, co-working area and café. Architect: Rhode Partners Client: Parallel Main contractor: Roger O’Brien Construction Interior design: Jill Pierce with LEVY Architects Photos: Nick Simonite

‘A large part of what we do in developing amenity space is to look beyond an “accommodation schedule” approach to study rooms and recreation space, and instead consider how we can design-in additional “interstitial” spaces and amenities that create “places” that students can occupy at different times of the day, for different purposes, and with different levels of social involvement considering neurodiversity.’

Molly Strehl, communication design leader at Rhode Partners, a major designer of student housing in the USA, aims for the same balance: ‘All of our buildings are designed to be extraordinary as well as economical to build, occupy and maintain.’ While its large, off-campus projects include facilities such as gyms, saunas and rooftop swimming pools that UK students could only dream about, there’s a wide range of accommodation, including shared rooms, to cater for different budgets. ‘The many types of amenities found in modern student housing projects aim to connect students beyond their unit and roommates, and feature many opportunities for exercise and relaxation,’ says Strehl.

While in previous generations friendships were forged around shared loos and kitchens, most designers now aim to create the same opportunities for interaction, but in more attractive settings. At Nido Student, Gardner says: ‘It’s been proved that our immediate environment has a direct impact on mental health, particularly for young people, and that their well-being needs require a flexible interior environment that encompasses space for socialising, for studying, for relaxing and for having fun – together.’ A similar strategy has been pursued by Eduardo Melero Rada, of García & Melero Arquitectos, in his design for RODO6, a small-scale student hall in El Arenal in Seville, where wide walkways, perimeter galleries and a central, light-filled courtyard with a fountain provide informal places for students to gather and socialise.

Assembly Student Living in Denver used to be a hotel, before it was transformed into student housing. A full refit by Styleworks in 2020 included external graphic art, six new oversized windows to lighten the lobby and colourful social spaces filled with plants. Studios and shared apartments are available. Design: Styleworks Client: Central Street Capital Photos: Jess Blackwell Studios

A new research study, ‘Living and Learning’ from The Property Marketing Strategists (TPMS) and student accommodation provider UPP, suggests that even this strategy may need to adapt, as its survey of 2,500 16-to-25-year- olds found that they no longer wanted to spend their university days in an academic bubble. ‘They want to be more integrated into their communities, not via communal spaces that are exclusive to the residents within the building, but through spaces that are open to all, allowing more diversity and opportunity,’ says co-founder of TPMS Deenie Lee. ‘We all know that being part of the communities within which we live supports our mental health.’

It’s the approach that LDS has taken with its project One Pool Street, says Lifschutz, who created a building that was open to the public at the lower levels – forgoing the turnstiles that restrict access to earlier UCL premises. ‘It’s an open and aspirational building. Non-students can tap into the activity there and come into the front entrance and go up to the fourth floor terrace and enjoy the views; they can attend outreach lectures and events, so you have students and the wider community mixing together. What’s the point of going to university if you don’t have the opportunity to get together with other people and exchange ideas and not just be in an echo chamber? The idea was to create a place where everybody comes through the same door; that’s a fundamental part of the experience.’

Lifschutz, who is trustee of mental health charity Body & Soul, adds: ‘It’s good for students’ mental health to have contact with other people in the wider community – it doesn’t make sense to segregate people by age. The whole ethos is about community; the wonderful thing about the building is that everybody comes together.’ The upper levels, above the terrace, are purely for students, but communal living has also been a focus here.

‘We had a number of meetings with students themselves and we asked them whether they would prefer larger rooms and less communal space or the other way around, and they wanted small rooms and more generous communal spaces. Rooms are eight to ten in a cluster and at the end of each is a social area, with a kitchen, dining area and lounge, with three sides of glass and incredible views. If students are on their own, problems can seem overwhelming but they can deal with things when they are together.’

Another new student accommodation building that welcomes in the wider world is the impressive Habib Bourguiba Hall in the grounds of Paris’s Cité Internationale Universitaire. Funded by the Tunisian government and designed by Explorations Architecture, the 199-bed building features a curving facade leading visitors naturally towards the glass-walled entrance hall where they can visit the tea room, Tunisian-style garden and auditorium. The large atrium fills the building with daylight and provides informal meeting and social areas for students.

Elsewhere, however, it seems that pragmatism triumphs over well-being. When University of California Santa Barbara was gifted $200m by billionaire Charles Munger to build a new 4,500-bed student dorm, his only stipulation was that it was built to his own exact plans – which turned out to be a giant cube with 94% of student bedrooms having no windows or natural light, the occupants glimpsing the outside world only via “virtual windows”. After protests from students and resignations from architects, the scheme has been reduced in size from 11 stories to nine, but students can still expect their only glimpse of the outside world from their bedrooms to be via a “virtual window”.

Architect Dennis McFadden, design principal at Leo A Daly, resigned from the university’s design review committee in protest, saying: ‘The building is a social and psychological experiment with an unknown impact on the personal development of the undergraduates the university serves. As an architect, a parent and a human being, I cannot give tacit approval.’