Southampton’s long derelict Cumberland Place site will become student housing under a £45m redevelopment plan by Peveril Securities and Cumberland Commercial Ltd.
The proposal was given the go-ahead by planning chiefs this week and could see two 12-storey towers rising from the site, which was formerly the home of the eight-storey Grosvenor House office block.
Plans for a 160,000 sq ft office block called The Bond had previously been approved but an occupier didn’t emerge to make the project a reality.
According to the new proposals, the towers would contain 507 student flats and three retail units on the ground floor as well as a gym, cinema, study rooms and public square.
Peveril Securities and Cumberland are also building 500 student flats on a former B&Q site in Swaythling in collaboration with Britel Fund Trustees.
Andy Hodgkinson at Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “With prime office development sites including Mayflower Plaza and The Bond being converted to student accommodation, is the CBD for Southampton beginning its migration down to the waterfront?
“There is the potential for even more student housing with the city being home to more than 40,000 students (many housed in sub-standard accommodation) and being recognised as a world-class centre for higher education.
“If this stimulates development at Royal Pier and around the Station Quarter then this could be perceived a positive step. However, if new office development stalls, then it exacerbates the lack of employment floorspace in the city centre and could encourage further relocations by major employers out of town following in the footsteps of HSBC and KPMG in 2015.”
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