Empiric Student acquires Glasgow site

The London-listed company said the programme, known as 155 George Street, consists of a vacant office building extending over basement ground and six upper floors.

The site, located close to the University of Glasgow, is set to be developed to into 87 self-contained studios and one two-bed apartment, Empiric said, adding it expects the development to be completed ahead of the start of the 2017-18 academic year.

It is the latest in a series of acquisitions made by Empiric in Scotland this year, with the latest taking to 440 beds its capacity in the Glasgow student accommodation market.

In October it acquired the 333 Bath Street development from Maven Capital Partners, a leading investor in student accommodation in Scotland, for £7.45m.

The block, next to the King’s Theatre, was developed by Maven partner Calmont Property Group to provide 70 highspecification studio apartments over six floors. The apartments offer access to extensive common space.

Empiric’s purchase of the Bath Street project came after it snapped up the Ballet School development in the city’s west end for £12m in March. The property, which was formerly the home of Scottish Ballet, has 103 studio flats with wifi and underfloor heating throughout.

Empiric is also developing the former Willowbank Primary School, next to the Ballet School, into a 178 bed scheme.

“Once all properties are complete, Empiric will own 440 operating beds in this Russell Group University city, which will help to drive further operational efficiencies and economies of scale”, said chief executive Paul Hadaway in a statement.

“This acquisition is in line with Empiric’s investment criteria and returns profile.”

He added: “This acquisition complements Empiric’s existing student accommodation assets in Glasgow, a city with 53,000 fulltime students at five higher education establishments – the third largest student accommodation population in the UK outside London.”