Mayflower Halls - Southampton
Following a period of sustained growth the University of Southampton identified a need for over 1,000 new bedrooms of student accommodation.
The University had multiple drivers for the scheme including the need to ensure that the University could continue to meet its accommodation guarantee; to raise the overall quality of its accommodation offering in the face of changing student expectations; and to help address local concerns around the growth of Houses in Multiple Occupancy.
The University was looking for the new accommodation to be funded by the private sector although was prepared to underwrite the demand risk.
Following a competitive tender process, we were selected to design, build and fund a ‘turnkey’ scheme in Southampton city centre on a prominent brownfield site next to the Grade II listed Mayflower Theatre.
Competitive forward funding was secured with Legal and General.
In one of the first agreements of its kind, the University entered into a long term reversionary lease of the entire development in return for the transfer of development, funding and construction risk.
The building is connected to the city wide district heating system which supplies all three blocks with hot water and central heating.
Mayflower Halls was one of the largest developments of its kind to take place in Southampton and transformed a derelict site that had been empty for over a decade into valuable student living.
The development also enabled the University to reconnect with the city centre and remains one of its most popular halls. Despite a constrained delivery programme and the logistical challenges of constructing in a city centre adjacent to a listed building, the development was completed on time for the start of the academic year.