Member Article

Union Square wins regional student housing awards title

Union Square student accommodation has been voted North East and Newcastle Student Halls of the Year, and team member Lindsey Green walked off with the ’Property Manager of the Year’ accolade, at the inaugural North East Student Housing Awards held at Newcastle Civic Centre recently.

The awards are the culmination of a great first year for Union Square, situated in Upper Ouseburn, which is currently home to 228 students from 24 countries across the world and which first opened its doors in August 2014.

Union Square is the largest student accommodation development completed to date by Newcastle based property developers, Adderstone Group, and the award is recognition for the team behind the project, from architects to developers, construction team, lettings agency and marketing expertise.

The North East Student Housing Awards aim to celebrate those in the region who continuously go above and beyond legislation to deliver property, services and standards at the highest possible level, with the hope of improving standards overall.

Union Square won Newcastle Halls of the Year before also walking away with the North East crown, after being assessed by a tough panel of industry experts including Valerie Bannister, President of the Association of Residential Landlords (ARLA), Steve Simpson, local representative from the National Landlords Association, as well as student sabbatical officers from all of the region’s universities.

North East Student Housing Awards founder, Paul Allison presented the team behind Union Square with their awards and said: “Union Square is a hall that makes the most of a great location, modern design and great customer service.

“Tenant reviews show that the management of the building is second to none and it sets a great example of how to build a new property and integrate with the existing environment and wider community. “In winning the North East Student Hall of the Year title, the judges felt that Union Square demonstrated a great attention to detail in both décor and layout, as well as providing an excellent level of care to their tenants.”

Lindsey Green, Director of Exchange Residential, Union Square’s dedicated lettings agency, also won the fiercely contested ‘Property Manager of the Year’ category for her work on the delivery of Union Square.

Lindsey, who has been with Exchange Residential since 2008, was responsible for managing the relationships between the development and construction team, the furnishing of the building and also being the first point of contact for all students on moving into the building and during their studies.

Lindsey said: “It has been a wonderful night for Union Square and also for myself on a personal level. As a team we have all worked hard to deliver an excellent product for the students and we’re delighted that this has been recognised.”

Nicola Redhead, Head of Marketing for Adderstone Group said: “One of the highlights for the team working on Union Square were the judges’ comments that they were especially impressed with the efforts made to integrate our residents into the local community. Our policy of community engagement through regular communications and events, such as the Taste of Union Square food festival, were very well received by the students and the business community alike and I think this has given us a real point of difference, highlighting we go the extra mile for our tenants.

“We’re already looking at ways to improve our offering at Union Square and will be introducing more social areas, study space and lounge rooms, along with a programme of events for our student tenants to enjoy in the new academic year.”

Adderstone Group continue to embark on a number of multi-million pound development projects across the UK including the 254 bed student accommodation Stepney Yard in Ouseburn, Newcastle which is due to open in September 2016 and a luxury residential development in Bermondsey, London.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Adderstone Group .