Housing for 1,000 students set for Titanic Quarter

The project will provide housing for more than 1,000 students in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast

Planning permission has been granted for the first student accommodation project in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter.

The project will provide housing for just over 1,000 students on a site next to Belfast Metropolitan College.

The developers, Watkin Jones-Lacuna, are among the most prolific builders of student housing in the city.

Their other projects include the redevelopment of the Athletic Stores building on Queen Street.

'Real demand for student accommodation'

Anthony Best, Managing Director of Lacuna Developments, said the development was responding to demand from students at universities and higher education colleges.

"Belfast is a great city, with a growing knowledge economy that needs students and graduates living here to be successful," he said.

The Titanic Quarter Student Village will be accessed via the Queen's Road

A substantial amount of student accommodation has been built in Belfast city centre over the past decade.

Those have primarily been on the northern side of the city centre to serve the new Ulster University campus.

An increasing number of projects are under way or planned for southern part of the city, closer to Queen's University.

Titanic Quarter skyline

Queens is due to expand its existing operations in the Titanic Quarter with a new Global Innovation Institute set to open next year.

A pre-application consultation exercise for the housing scheme drew a mix of responses with concerns including potential noise impacts on residents of the nearby Arc apartments.

Positive responses included the hope that it would help lead to growth of tourism businesses in the area.