UK: AXO Student Living’s plan to change the use of units at a Coventry PBSA asset to coliving have been refused by the local authority.
The plans to let units at Sherbourne Student Village to non-students as coliving accommodation were put forward as a solution to rising numbers of empty rooms in the building. Axo said pointed out the problem stems from unstable demand which is also affecting other student blocks in the city.
Agents for AXO said the large amount of unused space is an “extremely inefficient” use of the land and could ultimately lead to the building’s closure or sale. They stressed the building would still be mainly for students if the council agreed to the new flexible use.
Only unoccupied rooms in one of the scheme’s four blocks would be rented to non-students if the plan went ahead. The units would have been aimed at recent graduates or long term travellers who could stay for up to three months.
A report from council officers stressed coliving schemes need to encourage communities and can do this through shared facilities such as dining rooms and gyms.
Officers pointed out rooms in the block are “effectively self-contained” with en-suites and small kitchens, and the few communal spaces are on the ground floor, five flights of stairs away. They concluded this would be “inadequate” for the number of residents living there.
Planners also said the block’s 18 square metre studio rooms would be “too small” for non-students for anything other than short term stays. They said said the three-month tenancy limit would not give people long-term housing security and the effect would be more like a hotel.
Officers concluded that the building’s features mean it “would not result in an acceptable living environment for non-students” and advised plans be refused.
