£52 MILLION INNOVATIVE STUDENT VILLAGE PROPOSED FOR SHEFFIELD
Development will create over 400 jobs - 130 full time and 300 in construction

Manor Property Group is applying for planning permission for an innovative student accommodation development in Sheffield. The project has a gross development value of £52-million and will provide 880 apartments within a sustainable design providing a wide range of supporting services and facilities specifically tailored to cater for the needs of a modern student lifestyle.

“There is significant demand in Sheffield for high quality, contemporary and conveniently located student accommodation, particularly in the much needed Ecclesall Road area; Currently students are often restricted to traditional residential areas and terraced properties, ”explained Manor spokesman Robert Lane.

“We know students expect separate en-suite study bedrooms with excellent facilities, they also want to live as part of a friendship group alongside other students and so in Manor Mill individual student bedrooms are clustered together in groups of five, six or seven, with each group sharing a communal dining kitchen and living facility.”

Manor Mill

Called Manor Mill the site is situated at the intersection of Napier Street and Summerfield Street and is bounded to the north by the Porter Brook. It lies less than 50m away from the main arterial route off Ecclesall Road and will become a secure student ‘village’ with high quality, contemporary accommodation and environment, including purpose designed disabled student bedrooms.

It will benefit from Manor’s innovative heating and cooling system which has been developed for all their student residential schemes. The system utilises compact, air source heat pumps serving individual student flats and removes the need for large and inefficient centralised plants and distribution system.

The building design and construction will reflect Sheffield City Council’s sustainability policies and not only comply with relevant building regulations but will also achieve a BREEAM very good rating on completion. There will be five blocks of accommodation ranging from five to ten storeys in each.

Alan Soper from Robinsons architects in Shipley stated: “Manor Mill will create a high quality development with well-designed buildings, courtyards and public areas which all relate to one another, it will help create a new place within the city and regenerate the surrounding neighbourhood offering three public café bars and restaurants at ground level which face either towards the remodelled and upgraded Porter Brook with external terraced areas creating a new community asset or onto Summerfield Street and Napier Street. In addition, there is a smaller ‘corner café’ under the tower building in the north east corner of the site facing towards Ecclesall Road.”

The location of the accommodation is convenient for the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University as it is approximately equidistant between both and is served by good public transport links. The cafe bars offer an excellent alternative to the existing bars and restaurants that directly front the congested Ecclesall Road traffic

Exclusive on-site facilities and services

Manor Mill Sheffield will benefit from Manor’s on site MudskipperInternet Café, Mrs Mangle’s Laundry Boutique and Sweaty Betty’s Gym as well as the scalable broadband internet facility to every study bedroom. There is also a 24hr concierge with secure access to each accommodation block.

The development will also benefit from the partnership with a range of other student services from Manor Student Homes: The student management company is working in cooperation with Qdos.me a new social networking site set to launch in October 2011.

Scholarship opportunity

Qdos and Manor Student Homes will be offering three uniLife scholarships. From 2013, scholarships will be awarded to one student from the UK, Europe and Asia. Open to all undergraduate students who will be studying at a UK university in 2013, the winners of the uniLife scholarship will enjoy free university accommodation provided by Manor Student Homes and have their tuition fees paid for by Qdos from the year they are awarded the scholarship until the official end date of their degree course. To give students even more support Manor Student Homes is also offering its students a specialised banking facility through Qdosh.

Manor is one of the largest independent developers of student accommodation in the country with 11 strategic sites across northern university towns, including Hull, Manchester, Salford, Bradford, Durham, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds. The Manor Mill site will be operated by Manor Student Homes.