Investor and developer enter £60m joint venture for student scheme in Bristol

Host, Tiger Developments’ sister company and its operational business, will manage the scheme once construction has been completed.

Watkin Jones has been appointed as delivery and contracting partner for the development.

The development forms part of Temple Quarter, one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects. It aims to provide 10,000 new homes and 22,000 jobs as well as public spaces, commercial leisure and retail offerings over the next 25 years.

The PBSA scheme is a key part of Temple Quarter and directly opposite the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, a £500m development by the University of Bristol. It has capacity for 4,600 students, 650 staff and 350 partners across new business schools, research hubs and innovation centres.

The brownfield site has been redesigned by architects Chapman Taylor, and is made up of 69 en-suite rooms and 135 self-contained studios across four blocks, ranging from six to eight storeys in height and connected by bridge links over open courtyards.

It will target an Energy Performance Certificate rating of Band A, and will contain solar panels and a connection to the local district heating network.

Property company CBRE advised Tiger Developments on the transaction.

Bristol is host to approximately 60,000 students across the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England. Over the past six years, Bristol attracted 15,000 new students, but only 2,000 new beds were developed.

According to CBRE, there is an unmet demand of over 21,000 student beds across the PBSA sector.

Moorfield Group has delivered approximately 5,000 student beds through its PBSA development and operational platform Domain.

The scheme marks Tiger Development’s second PBSA development in Bristol. Its Avon Street scheme received planning permission in 2022. It will deliver 447 new bedrooms for the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year.

John Nesbitt, managing director of Host, said: “This partnership with Moorfield Group will expedite the delivery of what we believe is one of the most exciting PBSA schemes planned for any UK city.

“Bristol’s student population is predicted to increase rapidly over the next decade, and this development is much needed, particularly in the context of the emerging and neighbouring Temple Quarter Enterprise.”