Student accommodation is changing the face of the South West commercial property landscape, according to the head of Bruton Knowles’ Bristol office Paul Williams (pictured).
Mr Williams says that the conversion of secondary or surplus space into student accommodation, particularly in Bristol and Bath, is raising fears that businesses could be driven out of traditional locations and forced to look elsewhere.
He said: “With four top universities within a twenty mile radius, the impact on Bristol and Bath is far more pronounced than in many comparable urban conurbations.
“The level of demand we are seeing is certainly skewing development patterns and impacting on the commercial landscape, transforming traditional commercial property locations, function and usage.
“The popularity of converting existing commercial space or building on traditionally commercial sites shows little sign of abating.
“Bristol’s office market is the fastest growing of any big city with take-up hitting levels not seen since 2007. Dozens of offices in the city are being converted – on top of the dozens of schemes already approved.”
But the fall in supply in traditional business locations is creating opportunities in areas such as Temple Meads Enterprise Zone, Temple Studios, Paintworks, Bath Road Studios and the Bottle Yard. Demand is these up-and-coming areas is now transforming south Bristol into a ‘commercial property hotspot’ says Bruton Knowles.
Mr Williams continues to say that while Bristol has the space to meet the demand without compromising other sectors, Bath’s commercial land supply is being acquired at an alarming rate.
“Although Bath is thriving and continues to pull in the crowds, many of the traditional artisan-type enterprises are finding it hard to maintain a foothold as increasing amounts of commercial property are converted to student accommodation,” he said.
“Bath City planners in particular need to think long and hard whether the increasing number of student accommodation schemes being brought forward are in the best interests of business and the working population.”
Williams concludes by warning that, although it kept the construction sector ticking over during the economic downturn, the continual conversion of under-utilised commercial buildings and sites has the potential to change the commercial property landscape.
