A DECISION has been made on a new student accommodation block in Hereford which would see another 189 rooms brought to the city.

At Station Approach, Hereford's first dedicated build for student accommodation, there are currently 178 single bedrooms, but another block is needed for people studying at New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE), the city's new university.

Documents submitted with the plans for the new building at the Underwood Steel Stockholders site, off Widemarsh Street, said the rooms were needed to support the "rapid expansion and growth of students" at NMITE.

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Now, the proposal for the demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment of the site to include the erection of three buildings to provide student accommodation, landscaping, car parking, space for future reinstatement of canal and associated works has been approved by Herefordshire Council.

The proposed buildings range in height from around 12.5 metres to 16.2 metres, with three sections linked at ground floor.

Blocks A and B will be three-storey in height, and block C four storeys.

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The proposed palette of materials is red brick to the ground floor, with corrugated metal cladding finished to match the corten effect feature fins around the windows and with distressed grey corrugated metal cladding to the upper roof section.

Solar panels will also feature, with the plans, from applicant Steve Watkins of Braemar Midlands Ltd, approved with a raft of conditions.

The ground floor links will be flat-roofed, providing break-out/outdoor space, plans said.

In total the building would provide 189 rooms of student accommodation, together with associated communal space and facilities.

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These will include shared kitchen/dining/lounge areas, shared lounges, a games room, a gym, storage for 189 bikes, a coffee shop, reception and security/offices and ancillary infrastructure, such as stores for laundry and bins.

The living accommodation will be a mix of 137 self-contained studio apartments, with bedroom, kitchenette, ensuite shower room and study area, that have a shared lounge and "cluster accommodation" of up to six bedrooms with en-suite shower rooms that share a kitchen/dining/lounge area. 

As part of the plans a section 106 agreement has been signed, which includes £29,808 to support the NHS, a £213,866.73 contribution to the restoration of the adjacent canal, and the gifting of the canal land to the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust.

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