New bid to add almost 1000 beds to St Andrews student accommodation

If the £70m development is approved, it would add a further 900 beds to the town’s  student  accommodation

Developer JLL, has applied to Fife Council to create the space over  four blocks, with 30 accessible rooms, 472 en-suite bedrooms, 386 standard bedrooms and 29 studio flats at  Albany Park.

It would also include  a new student facilities building which incorporates kitchen facilities, a dining hall and servery, with a seasonal public café for outwith term time, flexible media and social spaces, staff room and other shared flexible spaces, mezzanine level with outside terrace, associated support offices, and changing facilitie.

The plans were first revealed in August as part of a two week consultation.

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Previous bids to update Albany Park were refused by Fife Council because of  a flood risk.

The existing halls of residence were opened in  the 1970s and provide a total of 340 single rooms for  under and post-graduate students.

Ina planning statement, JLL said: “The existing buildings are unattractive, uninspiring, and  require considerable maintenance and upkeep.”

The proposed development would be occupied by students during term time,  while the university intends to let some of the rooms directly to members of the public, tour groups, conference delegates and/or summer school students during holidays.

Derek Watson, Chief Executivefrom St Andrews University, said:  “The development at Albany Park is key to the university’s strategy to provide more accommodation and ease the pressure on the housing stock in St Andrews.

“We welcome the comments made by Fife Council in rejecting the earlier planning application and have revised our plans to increase the number of beds by around 200 which will further improve the overall supply of accommodation in St Andrews.”

Fife Councillors will have to approve the application before any work can go ahead.