The Student Accommodation Podcast

Interview with Rebecca O'Hare- Head of Partnerships & Resident Experience at SFG

 

On this latest episode we look at Reslife, which is very timely with a new intake of student residents arriving across the country for this year's academic intake. 

We welcome on Rebecca O’Hare to share her expertise in the sector. With over a decade of experience in the student accommodation market, Rebecca has recently embarked on a new venture with Student First Group as their Head of Partnerships and Resident Experience. 

Rebecca has over four years experience with Campus Living Villages as Head of Residence Life, and showed a particular talent in the tailoring of the residence life experience to each student, and was recently awarded Residence Life Professional of the Year 2019

Interview with James Pullan- Equity Partner, Knight Frank

In our new format of bite-sized content, we welcome on the podcast James Pullan, an equity partner at Knight Frank who heads the Knight Frank Student Property Team.  James has over seventeen years’ experience in the Student Property sector and has undertaken market-leading transactions and valuations for the sector’s most influential investors, developers, and operators.  James’ team values in excess of £12 billion Purpose Built Student Accommodation and undertakes transactions with committed funds in excess of £2 billion annually. 

Nick and James discuss investment within the sector, opportunities and challenges, investment source countries, the political landscape and the impacts on investor confidence among a varied discussion on the outlook of the PBSA sector. 

Interview with Bobbi Hartshorne- Head of Student Wellbeing, GSA

On this latest episode, we welcome on Bobbi Hartshorne, one of the global leaders in student well-being delivery and best practice from the GSA Group.  Global Student Accommodation (GSA) announced in 2018 the launch of Its 'Student Wellbeing Framework' being rolled out across all of three brands Uninest Student Residences, The Student Housing Company and Nexo Residencias. Its student brands are located in 34 global city locations.

GSA launched a research study in June 2018, titled Student Wellbeing Matters. Exploring on and off campus student wellbeing in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Australia to understand the role that purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) plays in enhancing student wellbeing.

GSA has also called for collaboration across more on and off-campus university service providers to help improve and promote student wellbeing and on this episode, we look in detail at best practice of student well-being in student housing. 

 

Interview with Brian Welsh- Global CEO, Nido Student

Welcome listeners to our second series of the student accommodation podcast brought you by City Room Rentals, a leading student Housing platform and agency partner. Our MD Nick Findlay and his research team will continue bringing you a brand new episode with a range of fantastic guests that live and breathe all things Student Housing.

We are delighted to announce our fresh new sponsor for this series is WIFIRST, the European Wifi leader with over 17 years of experience and over 1900 residences deployed across Europe.

On this first episode of the new series, we welcome on a Brian Welsh, Global CEO of Nido Student to discuss his wide-ranging experience within the sector and Nido's plans for expansion across the UK and continental Europe. 

 

 

 

Interview with Richard Gabelich- Founder & CEO Student First Group

On our latest episode Nick explores a specialised area of student housing gaining in popularity in the sector and that is Design, Build, Finance and Operate or DBFO partnership schemes as they are more commonly known.

Under DBFO schemes a student housing partner typically takes a long lease of university-owned land, designs a scheme in conjunction with the university, raises finance, builds it, operates it and takes the risk of finding occupants. In return, the university receives a capital receipt, the expertise of a dedicated partner and continued influence over creating a high-quality student experience.

We welcome on the episode Richard Gabelich of the Student First Group to explore this complex deal area. Student First provide innovative student accommodation advisory, investment, development and asset management solutions to developers, investors, universities and operators.

Interview with Tim Daplyn- Managing Director, Red Brick Research

On our latest episode we welcome on Tim Daplyn, Managing Director of Red Brick Research. This specialist student, youth and market insight agency are on a mission to inspire smarter, faster and better decision making. The interview discusses their new report focused on lessons from a decade of student housing data and touches on subjects such as the student mental health debate and the upcoming annual Global Student Living Conference.

Tim has led a wide range of projects including behavioural change, corporate strategy, social marketing and student and youth markets and has appeared on television news and is also a regular conference speaker.

 According to Tim’s Linkedin profile he speaks fluent research geek, and is a  marketer, editor, designer, salesperson and technologist. Tim loves to talk business, politics and has a passion for Rugby.

Interview with Jorick Beijer- Director, The Class of 2020

On this latest episode, Nick welcomes on the show Jorick Beijer, the Director of The Class of 2020. The content focuses on the Pan-European perspective and the institutional relationships between universities and operators and also the fundamental differences in mainland Europe in terms of approaching partnerships. Also discussed is how quickly PBSA is blending quickly into other alternative investments like co-living/co working and even shaping entire urban campus districts.

In 2011 The Class of 2020 was founded to improve the situation of student housing markets across Europe. Through original research, informative events, and The Class Conferences, this leading thinktank and their network is committed to making student living efficient, international, and welcoming.

 

 

Interview with Nathan Goddard- CEO, Student Roost

On our latest episode Nick welcomes on the show Nathan Goddard, CEO of one of the largest operators, Student Roost. The brand is continuing to grow at scale within the UK spotting a unique opportunity to consolidate a portfolio of high quality student housing assets through acquisition.

Student Roost owns and operates purpose-built student accommodation across the UK and is headquartered in Birmingham. With 45 properties and growing, providing over 16,580 beds to students, with a further 4000 rooms in development.

Nathan has led many of the exciting well-known brands within the space having held senior director roles with UNITE, Greystar and Student.com before his most recent activity with Student Roost where he now leads the business. 

Interview with Tom Devaney- Global COO, Scape

With one of the largest international student populations in the world and some of the best institutions, London was the natural place to start for this company. The well-known brand Scape is now focusing on opportunities globally, starting in Australia with 5,000 beds under construction and more in the pipeline for cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane.

On this episode we welcome on the show the Global Chief Operating Officer for Scape, Tom Devaney and discuss their growth plans and look in detail at operations in the Australian market.  With over 20 years in the hospitality, tourism and service industry, he brings a huge amount of experience to Scape. Having managed the openings and operations of hotels across Europe for brands such as Hilton, IHG and Marriott he makes sure everything Scape does lives up to the highest standards of the biggest names in the business. 

Interview with Richard Simpson- CEO, Watkin Jones PLC

On this latest episode, Nick welcomes on the show Richard Simpson, CEO of Watkin Jones Group PLC to discuss the Build to Rent (BTR) sector. Watkin Jones provides an end-to-end solution in developing large scale, multi-occupancy accommodation projects, with a primary focus on the student accommodation market.

 The Company is one of very few players that operate across the entire development lifecycle from site procurement, planning and construction to ultimate scheme management. Watkin Jones’s end to end solution is unusual and this combined with its considerable track record and existing relationships with investors could provide a degree of protection if competition in the sector continues to increase due to the attractive market dynamics that exist.

Richard has 15 years’ experience working in the property development and student accommodation sector, most recently as Group Property Director at Unite Group plc, the FTSE250 manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation. Prior to starting his career in the industry, he served for six years in the British Army.

Qualified as a chartered surveyor and a fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors he has substantial executive experience in setting the strategic direction for all aspects of property portfolio management, as well as holding various Board level roles including seven years serving on the Board of Unite Group plc and two years in a Non-Executive capacity with CityWest Homes. He was also Chair of the British Property Federation’s cross-sector Student Accommodation Committee from 2013-2015.