Investec Bank has provided a £19.25 million senior development loan to Barwood for a 233-bed purpose-built student accommodation scheme in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The 36-month facility will finance development and stabilisation of the project on the former St Chad’s Hospital site, which dates to 1808.
The scheme will retain and refurbish two Grade II listed buildings alongside three new-build structures. Completion is scheduled ahead of the 2026/27 academic year.
Development structure
The loan has been structured to accommodate an accelerated construction timeline, supporting Barwood through both development and stabilisation phases. Barwood is a new client for Investec’s real estate division.
Alice Harman of Investec Real Estate said: “This transaction demonstrates our ability to support new clients with flexible, development-focused funding solutions, even where delivery timelines are compressed. By structuring a bespoke facility, we have helped Barwood progress a complex PBSA scheme that combines heritage refurbishment with new-build development.”
Ed Henson, director and head of transactions at Barwood, said the Investec team “took a refreshingly commercial outlook on the intricacies of this deal, which involved a complex development programme, including elements of new build and conversion, within a corporate structure that included external Funding Partners and Development Managers.”
Market context
Birmingham hosts three major universities and a substantial student population. The city’s Russell Group status provides demand fundamentals for student accommodation development.
The transaction adds to Investec’s track record in the UK purpose-built student accommodation sector, where it has provided approximately £1.2 billion of funding since 2011. Recent transactions include a £47 million refinancing for YourTRIBE’s scheme in Elephant & Castle, London, and a £26 million development loan to Moorfield Group for a 204-bed scheme in Bristol.
The St Chads Student Village project represents one of several student accommodation developments progressing across UK university cities. The scheme’s mix of heritage refurbishment and new construction reflects broader trends in adaptive reuse of historic buildings for residential purposes.
The financing structure accommodates the complexity of working with listed buildings and a compressed delivery schedule, factors that typically require tailored lending arrangements in the development finance market.
