Plans to create a new student village in Pittville could be the key to unlocking a university’s full potential.
Cheltenham Borough councillors will consider an application by the University of Gloucestershire to build new accommodation for 794 students, and office space for another 100 staff.
Currently, some 213 people live on the Albert Road site, which was founded as the Cheltenham School of Art about 150 years ago.
Up until 2011, the campus housed the Faculty of Media, Art and Communications. The courses were moved to the Park campus, and the University said teaching there had become “financially unviable”.
Since the introduction of higher fees, competition between universities have intensified, with Gloucestershire seeing its enrolment figures rise for the first time last year. But its student accommodation is struggling to keep pace. Most universities provide all first-year students with accommodation, something Gloucestershire struggles to do at the moment.
It is projected the university will face a shortfall of as much as 1,153 beds by 2018 if it does not expand its premises. If given the nod, the university is planning to work with Uliving, a consortium which currently manages more than 10,000 beds in universities across Britain.
The consortium will be made up of developer Bouygues Development, housing provider Derwent Living and infrastructure project investor Equitix.
Using a private partnership for student housing has become more common in recent years, allowing the accommodation to be managed to professional standards, while keeping it self-funded.