Empiric Student Property has announced that it has simultaneously secured planning consent to convert a former office building in Bristol into a student accommodation scheme and acquired a PBSA scheme in Birmingham from Tiger Developments for £9m.
The company intends to transform the College House office building, which it acquired in February last year, into a student scheme offering 57 beds. The consent improves upon an initial 32-bed residential permission obtained in June 2024.
Empiric intends to use the proceeds from the company’s equity fundraise in October last year to undertake the redevelopment of the property, which is expected to be completed and available for occupation in early 2026.
In a trading update, the company also confirmed it has completed the acquisition of the Selly Oak Apartments scheme in Birmingham from Tiger Developments. Situated in the heart of Selly Oak, the scheme, which was managed by Host, comprises 63 beds across a range of en-suite and premium studio spaces.
Duncan Garrood, chief executive officer of Empiric Student Property, said: “The acquisition of Selly Oak Apartments completes the deployment of proceeds which were earmarked for acquisition opportunities, in line with returns indicated. Birmingham is a top-tier university city where over 50,000 students currently seek accommodation in a city with provision of only 27,500 PBSA beds, and less than 10,000 new beds currently consented for future development.
“The company continues to improve the quality and resilience of its portfolio. Since March 2021 it has sold nearly £150m of non-core assets and will continue to dispose of non-aligned properties when market opportunities and appropriate pricing allows. This acquisition, together with the planning consent achieved to expand our Bristol cluster, supports the strategy outlined in the October equity raise of growing a portfolio of high quality buildings which enhance shareholder returns and benefit from increasing alignment to top-tier universities (currently at 87%).”
John Nesbitt, managing director of Host, said: “This well-located asset has performed well since its completion, so Empiric’s interest came as no surprise. For Tiger, the transaction represents an attractive outcome and opportune moment to release capital for reinvestment into other PBSA and co-living opportunities, as well as the expansion of our third-party management businesses in Host and Habito, our recently formed co-living operational platform.”
Eversheds Sutherland provided legal advice to Tiger.
