NWP have this week joined Watkin Jones on the Birmingham Fire Station Student Accommodation Scheme. The 463 bed development will be the first we have completed within the city. Originally opened in 1935 the fire station was home to the West Midlands Fire Service for 73 years. The grade II listed premises will be redeveloped in time for next year’s intake of students from Aston University.

Managing Director Tim Keyes said – ‘The opportunity to work on another grade II listed building is increasing our experience & portfolio. It is an area we would like to progress further into. We have a strong belief in restoring these exceptional buildings as can be seen through previous projects such as Wrexham Museum, Sugarhouse Close & Merthyr Tydfil Old Town Hall.’

Contracts Director Roger Foston shared Tim’s opinion adding – It’s always exciting when starting a new project, especially in a new city. Having previously completed Logie Green Student Accommodation in Edinburgh we received a further 3 schemes within the city after impressing the client. We not only see Birmingham Fire Station as an opportunity to restore a special building with a vast history but also see an opportunity to win more projects within Birmingham.’

Student accommodation schemes are a very important part of our operations. In fact over the last 3 years we have completed 4 projects & currently have 2 at design stage, all 6 schemes have a combined Mechanical & Electrical Value of £10m. The student accommodation sector had been growing steadily over the last decade until the coalition government introduced the new tuition fee structure, allowing universities to charge up to £9,000 a year. Since this new structure was introduced in 2012 the student accommodation sector has witness a huge leap in proposed projects right across the country. We anticipated this progression and subsequently increased our presence in Scotland. We have since completed 3 projects in Edinburgh with a fourth due for hand over next month.

Running concurrently with the Birmingham Student Accommodation development is the Finsbury Park Student Accommodation scheme. Again working alongside main contractors Watkin Jones, we are currently at design stage with this 475 bed scheme. This new build project is part of the recently completed John Jones Art Gallery. We were awarded this contract as way of repeat business after a strong performance on the gallery. This project marks the 2^nd we have undertaken within the capital after opening our satellite office 12 months ago.

Recently two student accommodation schemes in Edinburgh have been acknowledged for their outstanding development. In late 2013 Sugarhouse Close was nominated for the quality in planning & Regeneration Awards respectively, the scheme went on to win both awards before adding the Civic Trust Special Commendation Award recently. The sugarhouse Close Scheme consists of 8 separate blocks housing a total of 302 student bedrooms. The development was opened to students of Edinburgh University in September 2013.

Although we have experienced great success with student accommodation & educational facilities over the last three years we are also encouraged by recent grade II listed regeneration projects. As Tim Keyes stated earlier, there is a certain excitement surrounding such projects, a sense you are helping to save a piece of history. We are slowly beginning to win more projects within this specialist sector. We believe this is down to excellent performances at projects such as Wrexham Museum, Sugarhouse Close & Merthyr Tydfil old Town Hall.

Our live portfolio currently consists of 8 projects with a Mechanical & Electrical value of  £11.2m. We have ongoing projects in Birmingham, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh & Strathclyde.

Information on all of our live projects can be seen on our new website – www.nwp-ltd.com