Property Week’s Student Accommodation Awards, now in their second year, “celebrate the companies and individuals who have enhanced the quality of accommodation in a sector currently facing numerous challenges, from Brexit to affordability”.

Winners were announced at an awards ceremony held at Birmingham’s National Conference Centre on December 7, 2017.

The awards follow swiftly from the project’s success at the annual Building Magazine Awards on November 7, where it was named Offsite Project of the Year, in tribute to the off-site construction of its brickwork facades.

In excess of 6,500 square metres of facade were manufactured offsite as composite precast brick faced panels. This method of construction not only provided significant programme efficiencies but also ensured quality consistency and minimised site waste.
The £140 million scheme has provided in excess of 1,200 student beds, along with a cinema room, games room, launderette, music rooms, study rooms, lounges, dining facilities, 4 tennis courts and landscaped gardens.

McBains was appointed by the University Partnerships Programme (UPP) to provide pre-contract project management and cost management services to UPP and employer’s agent and clerk of works services during the construction phase, to ensure the successful management and delivery of all quality, time, cost and contractual aspects through to completion and occupation.

Located on Cartwright Gardens, a Georgian garden square, the 1.45ha site is surrounded by listed buildings and sits within the Bloomsbury Conservation Area.

The project included the demolition of three existing student accommodation blocks to make way for newly built halls and town houses, along with the refurbishment of Hughes Parry Tower.

The mix of catered and self-catered accommodation options include en-suite bedrooms, townhouses, cluster flats, accessible studios and apartment bedrooms.

The development received a BREEAM New Construction 2011 rating of ‘Excellent’ with a final score of 73.1%. Sustainable features include photovoltaic panels on the roof, a number of green roofs and low flow taps and sanitary fittings.

Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Princess Anne officially opened the Garden Halls student accommodation on January 26, 2017.

Since then the scheme has received many accolades, including an award in recognition of the off site manufacture of the facades at the annual Housing Awards, a shortlisting in the Higher Education Project category at the Architects’ Journal Architecture Awards, a shortlisting in the University Halls of Residence category at the Student Accommodation Awards, a shortlisting in both the Residential Building of the Year (Multiple Occupancy) and Façade Design & Engineering categories at the LEAF awards, a shortlisting in the Best Student Housing category at the College and University Business Officers (CUBO) Awards and a recent judges’ commendation in the Worldwide Project category of the Brick Awards, following a shortlisting in the Large Housing Development category last year.