We’re delighted to announce plans to provide high quality, sustainable student accommodation in the heart of Belfast, in partnership with real estate development company ROK Property.

Located by York Street and Frederick Street, the new student housing development will sit north of Belfast City Centre, on a site which previously housed retail and office buildings but is currently in a state of disrepair.

We’ve received planning permission to develop 307 bedrooms across eleven floors, enabling us to address the pressing demand for purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in Belfast. The city is home to almost 38,500 students – but around 80% of this total do not have access to PBSA.

We’re aiming for the accommodation to be ready for students in time for the 2024/2025 academic year.

Guy Bowden, Partner at Bridges Fund Management, said: “Belfast is a big student city, but there’s a real lack of high-quality purpose-built student accommodation. Our new development in partnership with ROK will help to address this under-supply, building on Bridges’ extensive experience of delivering highly sustainable lower-cost residential accommodation in other major UK cities like Leeds, Edinburgh and London.”

Shaun Crawley at ROK Property added, “We are delighted to have partnered with Bridges Fund Management to deliver this high quality PBSA development in a prime location. The project, which is adjacent to the much-anticipated Ulster University Campus, will support the very significant demand for student accommodation in the city centre and ensure a positive future for this part of Belfast.  We look forward to seeing these exciting plans move forward later this year and anticipate welcoming students in 2024.”