Student Accommodation - Expert Opinion
February 2010
Unis Push For Land To Build Student Housing
Reported by The Sydney Morning Herald - 19 November 2009
Five public universities are negotiating with the Premier, Nathan Rees, to relax planning laws and free up Crown land to help build housing for an extra 15,000 students in Sydney. The universities - Western Sydney, Macquarie, Sydney, NSW and the University of Technology, Sydney want to provide more affordable accommodation to attract domestic and international students.
UWS has put forward a proposal for a five-day boarding complex to assist students living in the city who have to struggle with crowded public transport and congested roads to get to the campus. The NSW Vice Chancellors Council has stared discussions with Mr Rees over planning approvals and how to make housing projects more attractive and less costly. UTS and the University of Sydney also have raised the possibility of Crown land being made available for low-cost student housing. Other universities are seeking financial assistance or incentives for smaller housing projects after at least three deals reliant on private equity collapsed last year.
The NSW chief scientist, Mary O'Kane, has been asked by the Government to act as a go-between with the universities. Her appointment comes after Mr Rees held his first annual meeting with NSW vice chancellors earlier this year. It is understood he main topic was student housing in Sydney's tough rental market. Less than 10 per cent of students live in student accommodation provided by the universities in Sydney. In the United States and Canada, up to 50 per cent of students use student housing. Up to 2000 rooms for students are being built at a number of universities.
UTS is awaiting development approval on a $100 million complex for 800 students, however no major projects are due to start after next year, despite the universities developing plans for extra housing for at least 15,000 students.
The vice-chancellor of Sydney University, wants to triple the number of beds available to on campus students. The university is seeking proposals for short-term serviced accommodation within a kilometre of the campus. " We are actively looking at potential sites on campus where we could possibly increase accommodation...both at existing colleges and other sites," a spokesman for the vice chancellor said. " We have said that if other sites do become available, for example, Harold Park or North Eveleigh, the university is interested in exploring these."
The deputy vice chancellor of UTS said universities needed to integrate students' study with their living arrangement. " If you can provide an environment which has the physical as well as tutorial support for their studies [then] better educational as well as life experiences will result,".
The state Science and Medical Research Minister, Jodi McKay, said the Government would address the student housing issue. " We understand the importance for growth in this sector and the potential for attracting more international and interstate students to NSW," she said.
The student accommodation market has changes considerably over the last twelve months due to the global financial crisis and increasing pressure on education providers in Australia and across Asia to take a more proactive approach to providing more safe, quality and affordable student accommodation options to students. Prior to the GFC there were an abundance of financiers and commercial property developers eager to provide educational institutions with " arms length " student housing solutions.
Development partners are no longer in plentiful supply yet the demand for student accommodation continues to grow at a rapid rate across the region. As a result, more education providers, driven by increasing demand for student housing and the pressure of increased accountability, are considering student accommodation as core business, allocating capital funds to develop student housing projects with the intention to manage the facilities to protect against reputational risk, have greater control of the residential environments provided to students and generate additional income through the successful operation of the student accommodation business.
With over thirteen years experience in developing and operating large scale, purpose built student accommodation in both the private and educational sector, Auskor Australasia is perfectly positioned to provided education providers with practical insight into operating and developing student accommodation and experienced teams of consultants to assist educational clients to recruit, train and establish in house management teams. Auskor Australasia provides an excellent alternative to the out sourced student accommodation project development and management model.
For more information about our student accommodation project development and management consultancy services in Australia and across Asia.
Address: Auskor Australasia Pty Ltd; P.O. Box 3379, Rundle Mall, South Australia, 5000, Australia;
Office: + 61 (08) 8337 1660; Mobile: + 61 (0) 421 319 711
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Email: info@auskor.net ; ACN: 132 946 608; Skype: auskor.australasia
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