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STUDENTS CLAMOUR FOR HEALTHY ACCOMMODATION!

Date: 21 February 2006

ALL 184 spaces at a £20 million state-of-the-art student development in Birmingham have been filled for September 2006.

Students have been so keen to move into The Canalside in Lower Loveday Street, that all the rooms have been filled. There is a waiting list for the completion of the second phase when there will be a further 425 units.

"The take up on the units has been excellent," says Steve McDonough, commercial services director at Derwent Living, the housing provider.

The Canalside, which will house 609 students, features a gym with treadmills, rowers, weights and stepping machines. The gym will be available to students from February 2007.

Students will have their own mini fridges under their desks in their rooms. They will have Internet access, CCTV door entry sytems and en suite bathrooms.

It's not the traditional image of student living where several people shared a fridge and shivered in freezing cold flats.

In the Canalside communal kitchens, students will have TVs, microwaves and even dishwashers, says Mr McDonough.

"The accommodation has been enhanced to meet growing demand for high specification student living," he says.

"It's true to say that student accommodation is more and like hotel chain standards. Derwent Living is helping to raise the standard of student accommodation throughout the Midlands."

Each of the student rooms will have a "pod" bathroom which come as a high tech, complete unit and is "dropped" into each of the student rooms.

The 72 sq m Canalside common room will feature Sky TV. The gym, which is adjacent to block A towards Summer Lane, will be open to help keep students fit from September 2006.

The contemporary new building on the 1.3 acre site features green communal areas, CCTV, on site security, car parking, cycle stores and a student help desk.

The student accommodation will comprise of four, five and six-bed student "clusters", all with en suite shower rooms. There are also seven studio flats with shower rooms and kitchen areas.

Derwent Living is a major provider of student accommodation in a number of university cities including Nottingham, Sheffield, Leicester and Derby - and it has two schemes in Coventry, says Mr McDonough.

"We have a reputation for providing superior, well managed accommodation for students in what are regarded as safe environments," says Mr McDonough.

He added: "We see this scheme as a catalyst for regeneration in Birmingham and it's providing much needed affordable student accommodation. This development is an exciting project for Derwent Living as it moves out of the East Midlands and into the Birmingham area.

"This part of the city has not seen any major redevelopment as yet, but this student accommodation will form a focal point."

The development is at the forefront of regeneration in an area of the city close to Aston University. Phase one of the development, which overlooks the canal, will be ready in September 2006.

Students at The Canalside will take up residence near to some of Birmingham's trendiest apartments in the City Living area.

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