Proposal for new Belfast student accomodation is finally set to be approved

Today Belfast City Council's planning committee have submitted a report recommending the approval of new student accommodation, which will be only a five minute walk away from Queen's University.

Rojem Properties hope to demolish vacant shops and restaurants beside Laverys Pub to make room for the new accommodation, which will have 156 rooms.

The initial plans for the development, which proposed seven and 11-storey buildings with 267 rooms on Bradbury Place, were rejected by the City Council in 2016 due to concerns that it would negatively impact nearby listed buildings such as the Crescent Arts Centre and the Moravian Church. However, the proposal to scale down the size of the accommodation to a mixed five and six-storey building has proved more successful.

Image credit: Kenneth Allen, from Wikimedia Commons

This new accommodation is said to comprise of 100 en-suite bedrooms and 56 studio flats for students who wish to be in a very close proximity to university buildings. It will also include a reception area, retail unit, a social place for the students and two outdoor amenity areas, including a roof terrace. The project is to front on Bradbury Place and spread onto Albion Lane, making it closer to Queen's than any other student accommodation in the city.

Despite the go-ahead looking closer than ever, Rojem Properties still need to reach legal agreement with the Belfast City Council surrounding the management of the building regarding fire safety, waste disposal and disability access before the project can get underway.

Featured image credit: Albert Bridge, from geograph.ie