Uliving Pittville Campus

QMPF advised Uliving on its successful bid for the development of the Pittville campus, in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire. The Uliving consortium comprises Bouygues Development as contractor and Derwent Living housing association as FM provider. Additional equity was provided by infrastructure developer and fund manager, Equitix, and the university itself will take a minority share in the project company.

The scheme will deliver a new student village in Cheltenham for the University, with accommodation including 577 new build bedspaces and refurbishment of 214 existing beds. The student village will also provide new student amenities, including a gym, dining hall, students’ union office and over 1,000 sq m of dedicated office space for university staff. It will be managed and operated by Uliving throughout the 47 year concession.

The project was funded through a publicly listed indexing bond with a 35 year maturity. The senior funding was guaranteed by Her Majesty’s Treasury, through the UK Guarantee scheme, which was the first time an HMT guarantee has been obtained by a privately-financed student accommodation project.

QMPF advised the Uliving consortium on the project since its inception in 2012 through bid stages to financial close, and had a lead role in determining innovative funding structures for the project, including discussions with the Infrastructure & Projects Authority (formerly IUK) on delivering the HMT guarantee. We also provided detailed financial modelling and commercial advice to Uliving.