By Mark Wood, Partner

With student numbers at an all-time high in the UK, the countries Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) sector reached a record £7.2 billion in 2022. Some 2.86 million students registered at UK higher education institutions in 2021/22, whilst applications from overseas students increased to record levels despite concerns over Covid-19 and the impact of Brexit. It’s perhaps therefore no surprise that Studio Moren has seen an influx of student residential commissions in recent years and, as with an increasing amount of building sectors, the lines between PBSA and hospitality have blurred. A lot of our recent projects have been aimed at a more bespoke style of PBSA, akin to our boutique hotels. However, like hotels, there is space in the market for a range of stays from budget to boutique to luxury.

Student accommodation remains in high demand within academic cities as more students than ever choose to study away from home to get the full university experience following the pandemic lockdowns – up 221,990 from five years ago. However, most major UK cities have a significant undersupply of rooms, with recent data compiled by StuRents suggesting a current shortfall of 207,000 student beds. With such a high volume of students and a chronic shortage of accommodation, the PBSA sector remains resilient and presents plenty of opportunity for our clients.

The ability to integrate residential development more simply than hotel is one key factor to the popularity of PBSA for clients and we are finding that buildings of this nature are often easier to weave into urban environments in a functional sense. As an example, transport challenges such as the need for vehicle drop off and increased servicing are avoided due to the lack of public spaces such as F&B and Conferencing. This inherent lack of ‘serviced’ space in PBSA keeps staffing and operational costs down, providing the ability to run the building with minimal back-of-house requirements. This can effectively open up more available sites on the market as the model is simpler and the design solution can often be relatively straightforward to fit into constrained locations.

That’s not to say that delivery of these schemes is always straightforward. While demand for PBSA in our towns and cities remains high, we are inevitably aware of the increasing pressure on development driven by both funding and construction costs. We are also often frustrated by stringent and inflexible planning policies that can create road blocks and have a stifling effect on development. If we are to meet demand for student accommodation, it’s imperative to get schemes moving with reduced bureaucracy and allow owners to squeeze every drop of usage out of their buildings. It is my view that local authorities need to be encouraging development growth by being more flexible toward building use classes and how buildings can be utilised.

For instance, the ‘Student Hotel’ provides an innovative and flexible model, accommodating both tourists and students alike. Furthermore, the ability to use student rooms outside of the academic programme is extremely beneficial for owners both in terms of revenue stream and employment, whilst local authorities know that visitor demands within their cities can be met.

It must also be recognised that students’ needs are changing and both they and their parents are becoming more discerning in their choices of accommodation.

Undergraduates are under increasing pressure nowadays, embarking on the path of further education away from their family unit. Without the grants and course fees of the past, most students take jobs alongside the pressure of their courses, deadlines, exams and increasing educational demands.

Branded the ‘mute generation,’ Gen Z face an increasing challenge to make those important social connections when moving to a different area, city or country. This, in my view, makes the support of friends and peers crucial and, while it’s imperative that buildings are designed with a commercial sensibility, we must ensure the creation of an exciting, welcoming and nurturing environment.

While great study rooms are essential, I believe the answer lies primarily in the design of the communal spaces and their ability to encourage incidental meetings and to foster a sense of community. This might be sitting around a dining table chatting; it could be exercising next to someone in a Pilates class; or it could be a couple of games of pool waiting for the laundry to be done.

Likewise, it could be group study areas to meet and work with course mates. More elaborate design briefs have also seen us consider spaces for private dining events, wellness, karaoke, musical performance and areas for gaming and cinema. Providing students with on-site facilities for counselling and jobs to help out in the running of the building can also provide support and interaction amongst occupants.

In short, when choosing a place to live, students (and, arguably, their parents) should be wowed and feel inspired when seeing the building for the first time. The spaces should be meaningful, effective, maintainable and highly functioning in the long run. As with all of the buildings we design at Studio Moren, it is our priority to create places that people want to stay.