£9.5m University of Peterborough student accommodation revealed

Accommodation costing more than £9.5 million will be built on the Embankment to welcome the first cohort of students at the new University of Peterborough.
Peterborough City Council  Leader Cllr John  Holdich and education cabinet member Cllr Lynne Ayres at the site of proposed University of Peterborough student accommodation at Bishop's Road EMN-180321-152923009Peterborough City Council  Leader Cllr John  Holdich and education cabinet member Cllr Lynne Ayres at the site of proposed University of Peterborough student accommodation at Bishop's Road EMN-180321-152923009
Peterborough City Council Leader Cllr John Holdich and education cabinet member Cllr Lynne Ayres at the site of proposed University of Peterborough student accommodation at Bishop's Road EMN-180321-152923009

Funding for the project is set to be agreed on Wednesday by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, with up to 3,500 units due to be ready for use by 2022.

The announcement confirms previous reports from the Peterborough Telegraph that the Embankment is the chosen site for the new university which is due to open in autumn 2022 and be teaching 12,500 students by 2030.

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“As far as I’m concerned that’s the only game in town,” stated Cllr John Holdich, leader of Peterborough City Council and deputy mayor of the combined authority.

Funding for the accommodation is approximately £7 million more than the money the combined authority previously allocated.

Other options to put in accommodation at Peterborough Regional College, or split between the Embankment and the regional college, are set to be rejected.

The combined authority - which is headed by Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough James Palmer - will fund the building of the accommodation before selling it to a company to rent to students. Designs for how the accommodation will look have not been drawn up, but Cllr Holdich said he wants it to be an “iconic design.”

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The number of units will be expanded at a later date as the student population in Peterborough grows.

Original plans to use Bayard Place as temporary university accommodation have now been shelved.

The new accommodation will be on land to the left of the Regional Pool as you look at it from Bishop’s Road. The pool and the nearby athletics track will be redeveloped when the campus is created, with a footbridge to the Fletton Quays development built as well.