An Exeter office building that has one of the city’s busiest nightclubs in its basement could soon become a block of student accommodation.
The building – Queens House on the corner of Little Queen Street and Queen Street – was also a former home of the Express and Echo newspaper and Devon Live.
A new application has been submitted to the city council to create 37 student bedroom suites with shared lounges and cooking spaces on the first, second, third and fourth floors of the building.
The existing retail outlets and the Bella Italia restaurant on the ground floor will stay in place, as will The Vaults nightclub below.
Applicant Mountcrest Associates says the fact that the existing office building is vacant reflects the decline of town centre office spaces. The facade is Grade Two listed, and the building itself was created on the site of a former hotel.
The applicant says the facade will be unchanged.
Over the past few years the rapid increase in the amount of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in Exeter has sparked an intense local debate centred on its impact on the city’s housing market, economy, and community balance.
Some permanent residents and young professionals say they feel ‘squeezed out’ of the city as the student population grows, driven by the success of the University of Exeter.
Students now make up more than 20 per cent of Exeter’s population, and the university contributes millions of pounds to the city’s economy every year.
However, local councillors draw attention to demand from students driving local rental prices beyond the budget of ordinary working families. They also say an ‘over-concentration’ of student accommodation harms traditional local communities.
It is often argued that offering students purpose-built accommodation frees up other local properties for the local market, but critics say affordable social housing for local families should be the priority.
The city council has approved a project to build 400 PBSA units on the old police station site in Heavitree Road, along with another 400 units of ‘co-living’ for non-students.
A 10-storey block at Clarendon House – also recently approved – will provide 300 PBSA units. The university itself is creating more than 1,800 new student units on its Streatham campus.
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