Fiona Gribben | Senior Staff Writer
On Tuesday 29 April Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn visited Montrose Student Residence, a €22.5 million project due to open in September 2014.
Construction to convert the former hotel, located about 1km from the entrance to RTÉ and a short walk from the UCD campus, has begun and, when completed, will consist of 192 en-suite bedrooms.
The rooms will be clustered into apartments consisting of between five and eight bedrooms, each of which will have a communal kitchen and dining area and a separate living room. The property will have 24-hour security, an on-site management team and car parking and bicycle facilities.
Its developers say it will offer “three- to four-star hotel-standard” accommodation to its residents with a proposed entry-level price of €175 per week.
The entry-price level was reached following consultation with the UCD accommodation office and is based on a 42-week-term and inclusive of utilities, broadband internet, and contents insurance. Once the 42-week-term is over, you’ll need to get your own utilities and content insurance. You may want to click here to save on home and contents insurance with iSelect to ensure you have enough saved for the bill.
The Minister said: “I’m acutely aware of the need for high-quality student accommodation. We want to increase the number of international students who choose Ireland as a destination to further their studies and the City of Dublin also aims to enhance the reputation of the capital as a destination of choice for students across the country and the globe. To do that, we need to ensure there is affordable, quality accommodation where students and their families know they are safe and secure.”
However Trinity College Student Union Welfare Officer Stephen Garry told The University Times: “The situation regarding student accommodation is worse than ever. The demand for purpose-built student accommodation like the Montrose Student Residence is massive. This year in fact, NCI student accommodation was booked out within hours of opening.
“However the pricing plans offered by Montrose Student Residence are nothing short of extortionate. It is by far the most expensive student residence I have come across during my time here. I feel as though this is an exploitation of a student market already facing huge issues securing accommodation.”
The Montrose project is the first Irish development by Ziggurat, founded in 2009 by Jim Pike and Matthew McAdden and already well-established in the Student Housing market in the UK.
Jim Pike of Ziggurat said: “Montrose Student Residence represents a significant inroad into the shortage of quality student accommodation in Dublin while boosting the educational economy and making Dublin an even more attractive option for students from throughout Ireland and abroad.”
Ziggurat intends to create 1,000 student bed spaces in Dublin city over the next five years and is planning a second development to service Trinity College.
The next day Wednesday 30 April, Lord Mayor of Dublin Oisín Quinn and Ruairí Quinn TD, spoke at a Student Accommodation Investment Forum at the Mansion House.
The Lord Mayor said: “Dublin City Council has a strong policy of promoting Dublin as a destination of choice for International students. High quality, professionally managed student accommodation is a vital part of the infrastructure that we need to deliver on in order to make Dublin a great student city; a great International student city”.
The Student Accommodation Investment Forum intends to address the worrying lack of privately-provided, professionally-managed student accommodation that is not on campus or college-provided. It will be made up of investors, property professionals, architects and planners and will attempt to identify the challenges and the opportunities available to best optimise the benefits to the Dublin and the student population.
Currently there are a significant number of sites for student accommodation being actively pursued by international investors. One such site is in the Liberties in Dublin 8 and has commenced development. It is a project involving the Digital Hub Development Agency and Knightsbridge Student Accommodation. The €40 million euro project will provide accommodation for 500 students. It also provides 1,000 sq metres of office space for Digital Hub enterprises in a refurbished grain store, a nineteenth century heritage building.
