A MAJOR new student accommodation scheme is being proposed for Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.
Lacuna Developments & Watkin Jones have notified Belfast City Council of their plans to develop a large site behind Belfast Metropolitan College, close to the Titanic Belfast museum.
The five acre site also straddles the recently constructed Olympic House office building.
Holywood-based Lacuna and London-based student accommodation developer Watkin Jones, are already involved in the £175 million Loft Lines’ residential scheme in the Titanic Quarter.
Work on the 778 apartments next to Titanic Belfast is now under way.
The companies also previously combined to secure planning approval for a high rise build-to-rent scheme next to Ulster University’s Belfast campus.
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The Academy Street site was later sold to Castlebrooke for around £3m as part of the investor’s efforts to accommodate a social housing dimension within the broader Tribeca scheme.
The latest Lacuna and Watkin Jones collaboration, which carries the working title ‘TQ Students’, is at an early stage, with proposal of application notice (PAN) filed in the past two weeks.
The PAN states the development would involve a purpose built managed student accommodation (PBMSA) scheme, with internal landscaped courtyard, landscaping, site works and access arrangements from Queen’s Road.
A public information event will be held at the Titanic Hotel, Belfast on November 9 2023 at 3pm.
A consultation website is also due to be launched at www.tqstudents.co.uk, where details of the plans will be laid out in more detail.
Although there are no details on how many units the scheme could involve, industry monitor Construction Information Services (CIS) Ireland estimate the value of the project at around £87m.
CIS also noted that the scale of the site, means it may be subject to the completion of an environmental impact assessment report (EIA).
A full planning application is expected to be lodged in the coming months, following the completion of the consultation period.
Meanwhile, the Diocese of Down and Connor has secured planning permission to develop student accommodation on the site of its Catholic chaplaincy next to Queen's University.
The plans, signed off by Belfast City Council this week, will see 41 studio units developed on the upper floors of the Elmwood Avenue building.
The existing chaplaincy would also be refurbished and extended on the ground floor.
