Unite Students acquire Sheffield city centre site for £35m accomodation scheme

Unite Students, the developer and manager of student accommodation, has acquired a development site in Sheffield, on a subject to planning basis.

Located in Sheffield city centre, the site is close to the University of Sheffield and will provide a home for around 570 students.

Total development costs, including the cost of the land, are expected to be £35m, which will be funded internally and is anticipated to be delivered for the 2019/2020 academic year.

The project is expected to achieve a return on cost of 8.0 - 8.5%, in line with Unite’s target for regional development.

With a large and growing student population of 48,000, Sheffield is home to two Universities.

The new development will increase the number of Unite beds in Sheffield to around 4,300, across nine properties.

Richard Simpson, group property director for Unite Students, commented: “This acquisition extends our high-quality, development programme in a strong regional location where there is growing demand for purpose built student accommodation.

“Sheffield is a key city for Unite and we will be able to drive efficiencies from our scale and enhance services to our customers and university partners.

“We continue to see good opportunities to secure land alongside leading regional Universities to supplement our development pipeline for delivery in 2019 and 2020.”

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