It has recently been announced that Kier has been chosen to deliver upon a new £53.5m scheme for student accommodation on behalf of the University of Northampton, and to serve as part of the university’s brand new, £330m waterside campus.

Aiming to offer some 1,166 bedrooms for student use, the development will see a mixture of both four and five storey structures, comprising of both townhouses and flats for the majority of the accommodation, then also offering a 32-bedroom teaching hotel, ancillary and commercial space to provide yet further opportunity.

It is expected that the development will begin the construction phase further into the year, with the project hoped to be completed in time for 2017’s academic year – naturally, it is hoped that the residences will be filled by students for the year, and so the speedy development of the project is a must to achieve this.

The scheme comes to follow on from a number of projects which Kier has already undertaken with the University of Northampton, with the firm already having developed the university’s innovation centre (£7.2m), as well as the St John’s Halls of Residence project (£17.6m), which has already seen the addition of some 468 bedrooms for students to the location.

Additionally, the scheme also follows on Kier’s well-founded experience in the provision of schemes for student accommodation, with the firm presently developing greater than 700 bedrooms for students in projects across the width and breadth of the UK. Additionally, the company has also recently seen the completion of the London Gateway project on behalf of the University of Lincoln, also then providing considerable bedroom space for students – 519 in total.

Kier’s Managing Director, Mark Dady provided comment, then saying: “Being awarded this scheme is testament to the relationship we’ve built with the university over the past few years and we’re pleased to see this continue.”