Dinner parties & club lounges: Bournemouth’s next level student accommodation

Gone are the days of the stereotypical student flat with piled up dishes in the sink, peeling paint, and broken fixtures and fittings. This new generation of students demand far more from their university accommodation and developers are more than happy to provide.

With university and colleges fees rising across the world, students are now expecting more from their university experience, both in terms of education and living standards, leading to an influx in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in recent years.

The demand has pushed investment in student accommodation to record levels. An April report from property expert Savills recorded student housing investment in the US at US$10.8 billion in 2018 – an all-time high for the sector. According to Real Capital Analytics (RCA) investors have “discovered” the student accommodation sector in recent years causing it to swell over the last decade.

The investment has sent the price per bed soaring to over US$90,000 in the United States.

Globally, investment into student housing totalled US$17.1 billion in 2018, the third year in a row that volumes exceeded US$16 billion.

The new developments are not just a standard hall-style structure. The new accommodation that is proliferating city centres is far more luxurious than their older counterparts.

The latest offering from Collegiate, one of Europe’s leading providers of purpose-built student accommodation, is a fine example of this.

Complete with an on-site cinema, club lounge and private fitness suite, the brand new St Peter’s Hall in Bournemouth is for the student who wants a little luxury in their university life.

Located between the town centre and the beach, the private development offers rooms ranging from penthouse studios to compact studios. Rent will set you back £11,475 (US$14,500) per year at the top end, down to £9,435 (US$11,800).

Additional facilities include a dinner party room, a games room, en-suite bathrooms in all rooms, and high-speed broadband for the whole building.

Collegiate say the building was designed with students’ mental and physical wellbeing in mind.

As the UK university system deals with a mental health crisis, the impact of PBSA could prove to be a major ally in combating the problem.

A new survey from UK-based real estate provider, Octopus Property found that students in PBSA are generally happier, with 34 percent saying they were “very satisfied” with their mental health in comparison to just 23 percent of those in halls.

St. Peter’s Hall has taken mental health into consideration in all of its design details. Gone are the poxy box rooms of old student accommodation. Here, every room has ample space and natural light to make students feel secure and comfortable.

Communal areas follow the same ethos, placing tenants’ comfort as the top priority. Specialist support is also on hand to deal with any issues that might arise, any time of night or day.

“The development has been beautifully designed to an impeccable standard and offers a superior style of academic life, with spacious student apartments and incredible on-site features,” Eri Cuanalo, CEO of Collegiate, said in a statement.

“The welfare of our students is of upmost importance to us, and so we are thrilled to be offering students in Bournemouth unparalleled support and superb facilities for an unbeatable university experience. We look forward to welcoming students to St Peter’s Hall in the new academic year.”