UPP is rising above the recent doom and gloom as it celebrates another spectacular year with occupancy levels of more than 99 per cent across its portfolio of university partners.
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14/05/2010 - University of Kent chooses UPP to deliver multi-million pound campus revamp
UPP has today been selected as preferred bidder to deliver new student accommodation at the University of Kent, in a further demonstration of the popularity of UPP’s partnership approach amongst UK universities. The £26 million project will be UPP’s second development at Kent and, once the latest transaction is completed, UPP will have invested over £50 million in the University since 2008. Under previous schemes, UPP has delivered 544 student rooms following UPP’s award winning Eco Residence model, a 470 seat lecture theatre, a communal pavilion and teaching and conference facilities.
As the UK’s leading provider of campus infrastructure and asset management services, UPP will fund, design, develop and operate the new on-campus 495 room Eco Residence scheme. Construction is provisionally scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2010 and, once completed, UPP will have delivered over 1,039 new on-campus rooms for the University. Having already drawn over £1 billion of private sector investment into the UK Higher Education sector to date, the details of UPP’s latest transaction with the University of Kent will be finalised in the coming months. Once the transaction has been completed, UPP will have invested almost £300 million in the sector since the beginning of academic year 2009, at a time when Government funding for university capital projects is being cut.
The new development will provide students with affordable, high quality accommodation which will improve the student experience. The scheme will help to address the increasing demand for places at the University, which saw a 20% rise in applications during 2009, and now has some 19,000 students from 140 countries. UPP’s partnership with the University of Kent began in 2008 and the University is now one of the highest scoring universities, in terms of student satisfaction, in The Times Good University Guide and amongst the leading universities in the UK.
Professor Keith Mander, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Kent, said: “We are delighted to be working with UPP again and hope to replicate the success of Woolf College (our first new residential College for 35 years) which opened for postgraduate students in 2008. Our new project – to provide a significant extension to Keynes College – will provide much-needed residential accommodation for undergraduates and conference delegates at the heart of our Canterbury campus.”
Sean O’Shea, Chief Executive of UPP, said: “Having worked in partnership with the University of Kent for a number of years, we’re delighted that the University has now selected us to provide additional campus infrastructure. This is a real testament to the strength of our partnership approach; our asset based cash flows offer attractive, low-risk investment opportunities and long-term, predictable income streams based on rental income. Increasing numbers of people are applying to leading universities like the University of Kent and we’re pleased to be providing a solution which enhances the student experience, reduces carbon emissions and provides private sector investment.”
ENDS
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