A student-led mixed-use development scheme in London has secured funding of £125 million. The development, which will be offered exclusively to King’s College London (KCL) students, will feature 654 beds alongside 60,000 sq. ft of Grade-A office accommodation and an incubator space for entrepreneurial start-up businesses. Urbanest’s Aldgate scheme, to
Construction work is underway at a new sustainable student accommodation for King’s College, University of Cambridge, the first of its kind in the city. The development, situated in existing College grounds on Cranmer Road, will provide 59 graduate rooms built across two new accommodation buildings to create a unified campus
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
A student-led mixed-use development scheme in London has secured funding of £125 million. The development, which will be offered exclusively to King’s College London (KCL) students, will feature 654 beds alongside 60,000 sq. ft of Grade-A office accommodation and an incubator space for entrepreneurial start-up businesses. Urbanest’s Aldgate scheme, to be known as UrbanestCity, is being completed by Balfour Beatty with a funding loan from M&G Investments. “This is Urbanest’s most ambitious student-led mixed-use development to date, providing a unique blend of student housing, heritage, entrepreneurial innovation, commerce and leisure space uses which will sit alongside and complement each other in the completed scheme. We are delighted to be working with M&G and KCL again and our aspiration with Urbanest City is to add another landmark location within our expanding PBSA portfolio,” said Vicky Skinner, CFO at Urbanest. The remains of a bastion tower and part of the 4th century wall that encircled the Roman City of Londinium are concealed beneath the Aldgate development. Urbanest is working with Museum of London to incorporate these archaeological remains into the project, which consolidates two former office buildings (Emperor House and Roman Wall House) acquired by Urbanest in early 2017. The Roman remains are set to be made readily accessible to the public for the first time within a three-storey gallery and museum. “Urbanest continues to provide fantastic facilities for students in London and we are delighted to expand our relationship and enable the construction of this exciting development. We continue to see increasing demand for student accommodation in the capital and this deal provides our institutional investors with access to attractive returns secured against high quality real estate in London’s city centre,” added Adam Willis, Associate Director in M&G’s Real Estate Finance team. The building is scheduled for completion in 2021.
Construction work is underway at a new sustainable student accommodation for King’s College, University of Cambridge, the first of its kind in the city. The development, situated in existing College grounds on Cranmer Road, will provide 59 graduate rooms built across two new accommodation buildings to create a unified campus around a shared garden, which is also a short walk from the College’s historic courts. The student housing will be built to a Passivhaus standard, a sustainable housing initiative, resulting in ultra-low energy buildings which require very little fuel for heating or cooling. “We are delighted to have been given permission to develop this sustainable building on College land. It will provide much-needed accommodation for our graduates and foster the growth of a community spirit on the site,” said Philip Isaac, the Domus Bursar at King’s College. R G Carter will be building the student accommodation, having become one of the UK’s leading Passivhaus homebuilders, through continued investment, upskilling of its workforce and expertise demonstrated across a number of award winning developments. “We are delighted to collaborate with King’s College on this exciting innovative scheme. Our focus is on delivering a successful project and providing quality sustainable accommodation that will serve students for many years to come,” said John Ford, R G Carter Director and General Manager. Each accommodation block will reflect the surroundings in a contemporary way. Cranmer Villa will incorporate red brick walls, clay roof tiles and stone windows that reflects a style with neighbouring buildings, while The Garden building has been designed to blend into the conservation of the area, with a glazed terracotta cladding and a sustainable ‘green’ roof. It is expected that students will take up occupation in Autumn 2019.
