Second student block on Island Quarter site tipped for approval

A second student accommodation block on Nottingham’s Island Quarter site has been tipped for approval. The scheme will feature 394 bed spaces spread across four blocks, ranging in height from seven to 11 storeys when including the ground floor.

Developer Axis is proposing to build the scheme, on behalf of The Conygar Investment Company, off Manvers Street. It has been recommended for approval at a meeting of Nottingham City Council ’s planning committee on Wednesday, December 18.

“The building would stand at the back edge of City Link and Manvers Street, with a private courtyard to the rear,” planning documents say. Of the 394 bedspaces proposed, 313 of these would be provided within cluster flats and the remaining bedspaces within single occupancy studios.

“The building height, massing and design have evolved considerably through an extensive negotiation.” The block, if approved, will sit near to the existing Winfield Court student accommodation building.

Winfield Court, which features 693 bed spaces, was approved back in 2021 and opened in September this year. The new scheme forms the second phase of student accommodation development on the Island Quarter site.

The developer says 174 neighbouring properties were notified by letter, and two responded to object to the plans to say the scheme “would result in overbearing impact, loss of privacy and impact upon views for occupiers of properties on Newark Crescent.”

Similarly the Nottingham Civic Society had objected to the height of the development before amendments were made, saying: “The combination of the tall buildings already under construction as phase 2A of the Island Quarter, with the height and solidity of this phase 2B scheme, would result in Sneinton residents in Manvers Street experiencing the overbearing effect of the continuous wall of towering buildings.”