Unite Students acquires key London scheme

• Unite Students has acquired a Zone 1 London site with full planning consent
• The 444-bed property, in Southwark, will be ready for the 2027/28 academic year
• The Kings Place development will include 308 studios and 136 en-suite cluster rooms
• Also, eight key worker residential apartments and c.18,000 sq ft of workspace accommodation

Unite Students, the UK’s largest provider of student accommodation, has acquired a key London development that will provide new student homes in central London to support the growth of its university partners.

Unite Students’ Kings Place in Southwark

The company has purchased a Zone 1 London development, on Borough High Street in Southwark, where it will build a 444-bed property for the 2027/28 academic year.

Kings Place, near Borough Underground Station, will include 308 studio flats and 136 en-suite rooms in cluster flats for students, eight key worker residential apartments and a further 18,000 sq ft of workspace accommodation.

The scheme will have excellent connectivity to King’s College London and University of the Arts London, amongst others, and include a cinema room, gym, pavilion and terraces.

Unite Students’ London development pipeline now totals 3,200 beds for delivery over the next five years with a total planned investment of over £800 million.

This includes the delivery of 716 new beds and a new home for the London Academy of Excellence, a sixth form, at its Hawthorne House property, which is replacing former office block Jubilee House on Farthingale Walk. It’s due to open in time for the 2026/27 academic year.

Tom Brewerton, Group Development Director at Unite Students, said:

“We are delighted with the acquisition of Kings Place; a high-quality development in a central London location close to a range of London’s leading universities and Borough Underground Station.

“Unite Students is leading the purpose-built student accommodation sector and this new acquisition is an exciting development. The site benefits from full planning permission so allows us to start demolition soon resulting in a swift delivery for the 2027/28 academic year.

“We are trusted by parents, students and universities to provide high quality, safe and affordable accommodation that supports the entire university experience and are committed to delivering our record £1.5 billion development pipeline to meet this demand.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For further information, please contact Unite Students press office on 0117 4506300 or email: press.office@unitestudents.com

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK’s largest owner, manager, and developer of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) serving the country’s world-leading higher education sector. We provide homes to 68,000 students across 151 properties in 23 leading university towns and cities. We currently partner with over 60 universities across the UK.

Our people are driven by a common purpose: to provide a ‘Home for Success’ for the students who live with us. Unite Students’ accommodation is safe and secure, high quality, and affordable. Students live predominantly in en-suite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security and high-speed Wi-Fi.

We are committed to raising standards in the student accommodation sector for our customers, investors, and employees. Our Sustainability Strategy includes a commitment to become net zero carbon across our operations and developments by 2030. It includes our Sustainable Construction Framework, which outlines our approach for reducing embodied carbon.

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, the Unite Group is an award-winning Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit Unite Group’s corporate website www.unitegroup.com or the Unite Students’ site www.unitestudents.com.