Uni of Leicester scheme approved

The go-ahead has been given to plans which will see two 13- and 14-storey blocks constructed near the University of Leicester as part of a bid to create accommodation for 1,200 students – all of which will be a focus of the Midlands Development Conference’s 5th panel, focused on University estates and campus expansions.

The city council voted through the proposals at a meeting on Wednesday 3 April, which include a 740-bed development which will rise between five and 14 storeys on the Freeman’s Common site in Welford Road.
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The site currently has space for 300 students and the university has recently been granted permission to knock down the current buildings. An additional 460 bedrooms have also been earmarked across three new blocks between four and 13 storeys high at Nixon Court in Putney Road.

The plans also include the construction a nine-storey car park with 550 spaces on the freeman’s Common site, replacing the current 320 bays, along with new academic and teaching space over five floors. In total, across both parts of the site, an extra 838 students will be housed – an increase of 62 per cent to a total of 2,198.

The university first revealed its plans for a ten-year, £500m capital programme to transform its campus in October 2017 while a formal planning application was submitted in March 2018.

The Freemen’s Common project is being funded via commercial partnership with the Equitix Consortium as well as institutional investors based in the UK and council pension funds.

The plans have been amended since they were first submitted to Leicester City Council, with the Freeman’s Common scheme set for 900 student beds and the Nixon Court development tipped for an extra 300.

A council document published ahead of the meeting said: “On the Freemen’s Common part of the site the scheme will replace a poorly performing development with one that makes a significantly greater contribution to the quality of the area.

“With a wide pedestrian street, new quality public spaces and buildings in differing styles the scheme will significantly improve the permeability and legibility of this part of the city and will encourage the use of sustainable forms of transport.

“It will have a far stronger sense of place with memorable buildings surrounding a square and acting as a landmark on a main road that leads to the city centre. It will provide a much improved setting for the grade II-listed Freemen’s Cottages.

“On the Nixon Court site the scheme will replace a library store that is no longer required and a public house that does not make an efficient use of land with student flats that will help meet the housing needs in the city.

“As a whole the scheme will encourage the use of sustainable forms of transport and contribute towards the housing needs of the city.”

 

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