Unite announces new project with Oxford Brookes

Student accommodation developer Unite Students has exchanged contracts on a development site in Oxford and agreed commercial terms with Oxford Brookes University for a 25-year nominations agreement covering the site, which will extend its partnership with Unite to 1,350 beds.

Planning consent for the development has been granted subsequent to exchange.

The new development is expected to provide 885 new beds and will be delivered for the 2019/20 academic year with total development costs expected to be around £75m. Anticipated returns are in line with Unite's stated targets for University Partnerships.

Chief executive officer Richard Smith said: "This acquisition represents another exciting step in Unite's strategy of building long term partnerships with high quality universities. It also shows our ability to continue adding to our market-leading portfolio of buildings in locations where there is a shortage of affordable high quality student accommodation and we can exploit our service platform to drive operating efficiencies."