Historic Bristol office building to be converted into student flats

A developer has secured funding to convert a Grade II listed office building in Bristol into student accommodation. Rengen Developments plans to revive Hanover House in the city center and convert it into 26 apartments and 25 self-contained studios.

The company has agreed the £5.38m financing facility for the purpose-built scheme with development finance lender Atelier. The project is scheduled to be completed in time for September 2024 academic intake.

Matt Measures, senior investment manager at Atelier, said: “We are delighted to be funding this conversion of a fantastic Grade II listed building into purpose-built student accommodation in Bristol. This is the seventh scheme we have worked on with our client, Rengen, and we are equally delighted to be supporting this well-established PBSA developer in the South West.”

The announcement comes just days after a report revealed that Bristol is now the most expensive city for purpose-built student accommodation outside of London. The research found that students in the city would have to pay an average of £335-£382 a week for bed space, just 3%-13% less than in the capital.

The study, by property firm CBRE, revealed that student housing rents in the UK’s major cities and university towns have outstripped maintenance loans as the shortage of student accommodation and beds intensifies.

CBRE looked at purpose-built student accommodation in the UK’s 30 major university cities, alongside London. The capital has average rents of £325-433 for purpose-built student accommodation – only slightly more than Bristol. Elsewhere in the UK, Manchester averages £249-295 a week, Brighton averages £285-341 and Edinburgh averages £214-301.

Tight supply and a drop in the supply of student beds to the market have exacerbated rental growth. Assuming the student population grows by 1% per year over the next three years, CBRE estimates that by 2028 the market could face a potential shortfall of 620,000 student beds.

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