Student accommodation commercial delivery advice
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The Challenge
The University of York required advice to assist with its decision-making for the delivery of two new colleges together providing over 1,200 key bed spaces at its Heslington East campus.
The Solution
Cushman & Wakefield provided advice in the following areas:
- Establishing the financial and qualitative metrics to describe the University’s requirements and options to meet these;
- the potential impact of each option upon the University’s balance sheet and P&L accounts;
- testing in the financial options to determine the most effective means of funding a new scheme;
- procurement implications; and
- exploring how to get best value from managing the student residential portfolio whilst maintaining or enhancing its appeal to students.
- Our advice considered the wider implication for the University in the context of its overall student residences provision.
The Results
Cushman & Wakefield’s Public Sector Advisory team used standard development appraisal modelling to first understand critical factors relating to scheme viability. This allowed a feasibility study to be carried out incorporating the assumptions underpinning the new college developments.
We were able to robustly test a range of approaches against the University’s preferred criteria addressing how best to structure a transaction to ensure its commercial success and satisfactory outcome for the University.
We provided the University with a clear understanding of its requirement within the context of its overall residences portfolio and clear guidance to procuring and managing the next phases of residences.