Planning Consents

RNS Number : 1445V

Unite Group PLC

26 January 2017

 

Press release 26 January, 2017

THE UNITE GROUP PLC

("Unite Students", "Unite", the "Group", or the "Company")

UNITE STUDENTS SECURES PLANNING CONSENT FOR NEW SITES IN

BIRMINGHAM AND SHEFFIELD

Unite Students, the UK's leading developer and manager of student accommodation, has secured planning consent for two city centre developments in Birmingham and Sheffield totalling 1,186 student bedrooms. These latest consents take the total development pipeline to be delivered in the next three years to 6,500 beds, providing further visibility to our earnings growth outlook.

The new scheme at International House in Birmingham is located alongside Unite Students' existing development 'The Heights', which is fully let for the 2016/17 academic year. The new scheme will help increase our presence in a key market.

In Sheffield, St Vincent's Church is a dilapidated former church located next to the University of Sheffield's main city centre campus. The approved development will include the full refurbishment of the former church and its grounds into a new common room and accommodation for 600 new student beds.

Both schemes are expected to be open for the 2018/19 academic year and have a combined £75 million development cost, including land. The schemes will be funded by internally generated sources and are expected to achieve a yield on cost of 8% in line with our targets and to contribute 2p per share to EPRA earnings once complete. The schemes will continue to drive the Group's earnings visibility and NAV growth.

Richard Simpson, Group Property Director for Unite Group, commented:

"We are delighted to have secured planning consent for these important sites in two of the UK's most popular University cities. These cluster led developments will help to meet the strong demand for student accommodation in these cities and provide a safe and secure home for students.

"We will continue to progress our secured pipeline which remains focused on regional locations with strong student markets."

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Unite Students Joe Lister, Chief Financial Officer Paul Richmond, Corporate Affairs Director	Tel: [phone]
Bell Pottinger Victoria Geoghegan Nick Lambert Elizabeth Snow	Tel: [phone]

Notes to editors:

About Unite Students

Unite Students is the UK's largest and most established manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation. It provides a home for around 50,000 students, in more than 140 properties, across 28 leading university cities in England and Scotland. Unite works in partnership with more than 60 Higher Education institutions and also lets rooms directly to students.

Unite's purpose is to provide a home to its culturally-diverse customers, offering them a strong foundation for academic and personal success. The accommodation is high quality, safe and close to university campuses, transport links and local amenities. Students live in ensuite study bedrooms with rents covering all bills, insurance, 24-hour security, fortnightly cleaning of communal kitchens and bathrooms and high speed Wi-Fi.

Founded in 1991 in Bristol, The Unite Group plc is a FTSE250 company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, employing more than 1,250 people. It pursues a sustainable growth strategy, designed to make the most of the resilient nature of the student accommodation sector. Unite is focused on maintaining its position as the leading provider of student accommodation in the UK, by having the best brand, operating the highest quality portfolio and  maintaining the strongest capital structure in the sector. This is achieved with consistent investment in, and improvement to, the operating platform; highly selective development activity and asset management initiatives.

Unite is invested in and operates a small number of specialist funds and joint ventures with institutional investment partners, the largest of which is the £2 billion Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF).

Unite is the founder and major donor of the Unite Foundation. Since 2012 this has provided free student accommodation and financial support to 160 young people in the UK who lack family support.

For more information you can visit Unite's corporate website www.unite-group.co.uk, the student site www.unite-students.com or the Unite Foundation site www.unitefoundation.co.uk.

213800BBUUWVDH9YI827

 

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