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PBSA: An antidote to Bristol’s student housing crisis?

Reflections

With Freshers Week a distant memory, and millions of students settling into university life, areas across the UK are welcoming thousands of diverse and vibrant young people into existing communities.

Bristol is no exception, but it’s facing greater pressures than most cities.

Its student population is certainly thriving. Almost 71,000 students enrolled at Bristol’s two world-leading higher educational institutions last year – the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE). This figure has risen by more than 50 percent over the past decade, with overseas students comprising more than a quarter.

This has increased pressure on existing infrastructure, particularly in housing and accommodation. Housing supply and affordability are major issues threatening the Bristol market, seen as the driving force behind Bristol City Council’s Affordable Housing Delivery Plan 2022-25.

Spiralling costs, lack of regulation and quality homes, and poor maintenance and tenant experience characterise Bristol’s private rental crisis. This crisis is both a driver and a symptom of multiple occupation (HMOs) across Bristol – houses or flats owned by private landlords in existing residential areas, which 45 percent of Bristol’s students occupied in 2020.

A 2024 housing survey, commissioned by Bristol’s Students’ Union, reported many students are living in often unaffordable “mouldy” and “appalling” conditions. Between April 2017 and March 2022, the council received 1,853 complaints about HMOs in the city.

Rental pressures, a rise in HMOs carving up communities and a booming population of students have created a perfect storm. It has even led to Bristol students commuting into the city from ‘spill-over’ accommodation in Wales. The challenges are widespread, but what’s the solution?

Purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) is often cited as a solution to alleviate these pressures. PBSAs are a modern type of residential development –often delivered by private providers– which are let to students either directly or through the universities. Bristol has had a 170 percent increase in PBSA bed spaces since 2000, but still stands well short of supply to support its student population which is projected to increase to 85,400 in the next decade.

 

Although they won’t solve all the pressures, PBSA developments can help Bristol in:

  1. Addressing the housing crisis: With a stretched rental market, providing more PBSA prevents the further ‘carving up’ of family homes (and some would argue, communities) into HMOs. This can help to ease demand for accommodation and relieve pressure on the city’s housing stock.
  2. Supporting local businesses: The influx of students and new neighbours supports local businesses and the wider economy. The positive impacts of increased footfall is being seen in Bedminster, for example, where the newly opened Metal Works on Dalby Avenue and 800 new neighbours is supporting the area’s overall regeneration and the establishment of new businesses on East Street.
  3. Driving forward social integration: Students too often carry the burden of being a strain on local communities and social cohesion, which can create an unhelpful ‘us vs them’ mentality in the media. It is important we proactively engage young people, demonstrate the benefits they bring and make efforts to establish collaborative avenues for students and local communities to come together.
  4. Enabling wider development: PBSA development has supported the renewal of areas across the city centre, promoting the redevelopment of redundant buildings and regenerating areas in need.

While several planning applications for PBSA are coming forward, the number of refusals remains high.

For example, the refusal earlier in July for a new 700-bed PBSA on Sussex Street in St Philips.

This decision was an effort to protect the space for industrial and employment use, with councillors raising concerns about poor living conditions for students. Associated rhetoric surrounding the ‘carving up’ of communities and the break-down of social cohesion can be unhelpful at best and damaging at worst.

So, what can we do about it?

With proposals for PBSA often being controversial and challenging to get over the line, meaningful engagement with communities and stakeholders is ever more vital to winning over hearts and minds. Without acknowledging the challenges, we can’t highlight the opportunities this type of development offers for existing communities, universities, local businesses and students.

At Meeting Place, we’ve provided community, political and media engagement and social impact support on several PBSA proposals across Bristol. Greystar’s plans to redevelop the existing NCP Rupert Street car park into 9 co-living rooms, 328 student and a replacement 400-space car park received unanimous approval from the council two months before the hotly contested local elections.

We have also recently supported Dandara Living in bringing forward plans for Little George Street, which includes new student homes, flexible community space and affordable workspaces in Bristol’s Frome Gateway Regeneration Area – it’s one of the first applications to come forward in the area.

Bristol has a strong appetite for well-managed and well-maintained student accommodation –from across the political divide, the city’s universities and local communities– which can help free up housing and address the rental crisis.

Despite the appetite, we risk falling short of meeting this demand and falling at the hurdle in the planning process. To overcome this, we must bring young people into the conversation during the planning process, getting them to influence masterplans through inclusive co-creation. We must also demonstrate the opportunities PBSA can and do bring and celebrate the myriad of benefits that students themselves bring to communities to make them vibrant inclusive places to live.

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