URW to develop PBSA project on east London car park roof

Shopping centre specialist Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has obtained planning consent to develop a student housing building on the top of a multi-storey car park at Westfield Stratford City in east London.

The project will provide 520 student beds along with a 30,000 sq ft publicly accessible rooftop park which will provide leisure, sports, and community activities. There will also be more than 16,000 sq ft of dedicated high quality amenity space throughout the building.

Community groups such as Make Space for Girls and Elevate as well as adjoining landowners provided input to the design process, the object of which was to provide safe, affordable accommodation for students, while enhancing the local area with inclusive and welcoming spaces.

Key design elements include utilising the existing structure and foundations and the accommodation will be serviced by existing utilities to ensure the building is energy efficient. 

“Delivering a high-quality, sustainable design that provides genuine community benefit was an important part of this process and something our team worked on closely with local stakeholders and consultation groups,” said URW chief operating officer Scott Parsons.

 “Despite a number of student homes having been delivered in the area in recent years, there is a pressing need for more high-quality and affordable student beds as Stratford continues to grow as one of London’s best regeneration zones, particularly with the arrival of UCL and London College of Fashion, UAL at the East Bank.”