Nottingham Trent University And UPP Close £56m Student Housing-Led Deal

In a first for the university sector Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has closed on a deal with the University Partnership Programme (UPP) which combines residential and non-residential elements.

The 40 year concession will see the construction and management of 911 student accommodation units, a new student union building and other facilities. It is being built by Vinci Construction and the project is expected to take 18 months to complete.

NTU was advised by international law firm Pinsent Masons. Pinsent Masons partner and student housing specialist Martin Priestley said: “This ground-breaking project is great news for the city of Nottingham and for present and future NTU students. The project sends out a strong signal to the market that demand for high quality university accommodation remains high. Universities such as Nottingham Trent are at the cutting edge of utilising project finance structures to transform their estates. It was also great to work again with the Nottingham Trent team, led by director of finance James Lacey. This is our third project for the University in the past five years.”

RBS has funded the deal with a £45m five-year loan. The project was geared 80/20 with leading UK university accommodation provider UPP putting in £11.25m in equity. This is the fifth project that UPP has worked on with Nottingham Trent University, their partnership began in 2003.

The Pinsent Masons team was led by Martin Priestley and Victoria Goddard and included John Christian (tax) Stacey Collins (construction) and Rebecca Wilcock (finance). Navigant Consulting provided financial advice to the university.

Addleshaw Goddard was legal adviser to UPP and DWPF provided financial advice. Clifford Chance provided legal advice to RBS and DTZ provided demand analysis.