A BRITISH developer has acquired a major site in Belfast to build a 475-bed student housing scheme.
Olympian Homes is investing £37 million in the project at Great Patrick Street close to the new Ulster University campus.
It is just one of several schemes planned as developers vie to provide accommodation for an expected 15,000 students that will use the campus when it is completed.
London-based Olympian will start work on the building, which has planning permission, in July and anticipates construction will finish in July 2018.
The company's chief executive officer Simon Murray-Twinn said the firm were "excited to be bringing forward this development in Belfast and to be contributing to the regeneration of this much neglected area of the city centre".
“The site is currently vacant and has been effectively isolated from the rest of the city by the major infrastructure that surrounds it. Our development will bring vibrancy and life back to the area and will boost the existing food and beverage offerings within the Cathedral Quarter. We expect this activity to act as a catalyst for further economic growth and regeneration."
Mr Murray-Twinn said 300 construction workers would be employed at the site during the building phase.
"We have already appointed a local design and management team including Belfast based Like Architects and will continue to procure locally," he added.
Meanwhile, Cookstown developer McAleer & Rushe has agreed to develop 1,200 student bedrooms at two sites for Queen's University, Belfast.
The construction is seeking permission to build a 476 bed scheme on McClintock Street - where it is also building a hotel - and 775 bedrooms at College Avenue.
The deal, worth around £70 million, will see the completion of the buildings by summer 2018.
McAleer & Rushe property director Stephen Surphlis said it was "the most significant property development deal in Northern Ireland for many years".
Queen’s vice-chancellor, Professor Patrick Johnston added: “As an anchor institution in the city, this substantial investment again demonstrates the commitment of Queen’s to the development of Belfast as a learning city. The continued growth of the university, and Belfast, is critical to the success of the knowledge economy."
The projects are two of many across Belfast to build student housing, driven mainly by the new Ulster University campus being constructed on York Street.
They are currently going through the planning process but if given the go ahead, McAleer & Rushe said the building work would support 550 jobs with 75 long-term jobs also expected.
