New £168m student accommodation unveiled

The University of Essex has unveiled its latest student accommodation at its Colchester Campus.

The Pastures, a £168m project consisting of 1,262 new, high-quality student bedrooms, was completed by leading construction company Bouygues UK.

Welcoming its first student residents this week, The Pastures is split across five new buildings. One of these blocks will create a new hub which will include a reception, a post room, an administrative area, and a student services centre, along with staff welfare facilities.

The project was developed by Uliving, the student accommodation arm of Bouygues UK’s sister company Linkcity, in partnership with Equitix.

This development is the third phase of student accommodation that Uliving and Bouygues UK have delivered for the University of Essex, following the completion of Phase 1 (648 new-build bedrooms and the refurbishment of 772 bedrooms) and Phase 2 (643 bedrooms) in 2013 and 2018 respectively.

Chris Oldham, University of Essex Deputy Registrar (Infrastructure and Environments) said: “We are delighted to be offering this fabulous new student residential accommodation at our Colchester Campus. The new development provides a range of high-quality accommodation choices, which is key to students enjoying a positive living and learning experience on our campus.

“Growing our accommodation on campus enables us to align this to our growth in student numbers and satisfy the needs of our students. We are proud of our excellent relationship with our partners in delivering this new accommodation.”

Oliver Campbell, Development Director at Linkcity and CEO of Uliving said: “In time for the new academic year, we are proud to have successfully delivered this new student accommodation project for the University of Essex. Despite the post-pandemic challenges to supply chains that we faced, we maintained the fast pace of progress on the project, delivering 1,262 high-quality student bedrooms in two years.

“The completed project showcases our ability to design, build, finance, and operate student accommodation, and couldn’t have been achieved without the close collaboration among all partners.”