Savills and Gerald Eve appointed to secure forward funding partner for prime student accommodation development
Savills and Gerald Eve have been appointed by award winning developer, Dominus, to secure a forward funding partner for a student accommodation scheme with a gross development value in excess of £200m. This will enable the development of a 37 story super-prime, high specification, student accommodation scheme, “Medlock Tower”, in Manchester.
The development will provide 1,014 bed spaces and is located close to both Manchester University and Manchester Metropolitan University. It is also designed with the ambition of achieving BREAAM Excellent and includes a green living roof, solar PV panels and new landscaped public areas.
The scheme, which gives opportunity to forward fund one of the last prime student developments in Manchester’s city centre, will be delivered by Dominus, in a joint venture with Whitbread. Construction is scheduled for April 2024, with delivery in time for the 2027/2028 academic year.
Preet Ahluwalia, principal director of Dominus, comments; “We are pleased to be launching this forward fund opportunity to the market, together with our joint venture partners, Whitbread. We have worked tirelessly over the last two years, together with our consultant teams to secure a planning consent and look forward to casting our attention to delivery.”
Lizzie Beagley, director in Savills Operational Capital Markets team, says; “We are very excited to take on this high-profile forward funding instruction for Dominus, which will deliver high quality student accommodation to a significantly undersupplied city.”
Jason Nearchou, partner at Gerald Eve, says; “This scheme will deliver the much-needed high quality accommodation that students expect in today’s market, while focusing on the ESG and building standards required by global capital.”
Dominus currently operates a portfolio of hotels in London, Oxford and Bath and has a student pipeline of over 4,000 beds in the UK. Dominus is currently building c.1,500 student beds in the City of London, 713 in Hammersmith in addition to recently submitting a planning application for a 627 bed PBSA scheme in Bristol.
