Pinsent Masons advises London School of Economics on major student accommodation redevelopment project

The Glengall Road Student Accommodation DBFO Project is a 15 storey, tiered development, which will provide additional housing primarily for post-graduate students of the School. Over a third of the rooms will benefit from the London Plan’s affordable student housing requirements, enabling access to good quality housing for lower income students.

Chris Owens, legal director and lead for Pinsent Masons commented:

"There is a huge demand for affordable and good quality post-graduate accommodation in London and we are delighted to have worked on a project that will provide this to LSE students. It is also the first DBFO accommodation project for LSE and so we are thrilled to have helped them achieve all their objectives through the use of the model and demonstrate that it can be an option for the delivery of future accommodation projects by the School.”

Equity was provided by DIF (80.1%) and the School (19.9%) with Senior Debt provided by Pension Insurance Corporation plc. The construction works and FM services will be provided by Equans.

Mike Ferguson, Director of Finance for LSE, commented:

"We were delighted to be working with Pinsent Masons on this significant student accommodation transaction. Led by Chris Owens, the team at Pinsent Masons provided a tremendous level of expertise and support to the School in guiding us through complex legal and commercial considerations to reach a successful outcome. The team were highly professional, incredibly diligent and a pleasure to work with."

The team at Pinsent Masons included head of the firm's universities practice Victoria Goddard, tax partner Christine Yuill, legal directors Graham Young and Catherine Hemsworth, senior associates Ria Bennett and Emma O’Gorman, associates James McDonald, Rebecca Wilding and Emma-Louise Beadie and solicitors David Jeffries, Louie Gough and Emilia Turnock.

The completion of this project follows the team’s work finalising a major accommodation transaction for the University of Birmingham this week. The team was also named Legal/Professional Team of the Year at the Property Week Student Accommodation Awards.