Southern Grove has secured approval for a £75m mixed-use student accommodation scheme in East London.

The Piano Works will be located on the site of a former piano factory in the Fish Island neighbourhood in Hackney Wick, and will be home to 204 students across two six- and seven-storey blocks.

The ground floor of both buildings will host space for the London College of Fashion, which is part of University of the Arts London (UAL), where students will  have access to co-working and creative spaces.

A third five-storey building with 840m2 of commercial floor space is also planned for the site.

It will be entirely given over to community organisation, the Stour Trust, which nurtures local commercial, artistic and industrial enterprises.

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Planning requirements stipulate that 35% of the accommodation is affordable, but Southern Grove hopes to exceed this target, and plans to provide units at a rate over 50% below market rents in certain cases.

Tom Slingsby, CEO of Southern Grove Group, commented: “Hackney Wick will soon be one of the most vibrant and exciting places to be in the capital and we’re tremendously proud that we’ve played a huge role in making that happen.

“The Piano Works will be yet another design-led, landmark development helping to make Fish Island a magnet for young people, students, entrepreneurs and the businesses that want to reach them.

“The presence of Stour Trust and the London School of Fashion will present no end of opportunities for local people and residents.

“This is the kind of scheme that suddenly puts an area on the map, creating a wave of inward investment that we’re sure will last for decades.”