PBSA is ‘bubble which is going to burst’, warns Birmingham councillor

Councillors on Birmingham City Council’s planning committee have warned the city centre risks piling up ‘unsuitable’ student accommodation – despite giving the green light to 500 PBSA apartments earmarked for Suffolk Street Queensway.

City council planners had recommended approval for Landmark Properties’ plans to build a 21-storey tower near the Mailbox, set to occupy a half-acre site next to the 29-storey Vita Tower, another student building which is set for completion this year.

The scheme was approved by the committee today, 19 March, despite councillors expressing concerns that a residential scheme previously approved for the site was no longer considered viable for development due to inflationary pressures.

A report supplied with the proposals said there had been an “absence of developer interest” in delivering a 125-home residential build approved in October 2024, in part due to beefed up regulatory requirements brought in with the Building Safety Act last year, but also due to a rise in cost inflation for new buildings.

“That has enormous consequences for us as a planning committee and us as a city,” said Cllr Martin Brookes, member for Harbourne.

“What we’re saying is that you can get funding for niche projects like student accommodation, but residential accommodation is going to be really difficult because of inflation. I think that is something that should concern us, not just as a committee but as an authority as well.

“PBSA is a bubble which is going to burst, sooner or later,” he added.

“It’s unsustainable and it’s entirely subject to a lot of international pressures. It’s easy for countries to say they’re going to stop funding students to come to the UK.

“We could finish up with pile of accommodation which isn’t suitable for the needs of the city, and we need to be more careful.”

The site sits next door to the 29-storey Vita Tower, currently under construction, and set to provide 540 student beds when it opens later this year, part of a wave of PBSA construction intended to address a predicted short-fall of around 5,000 student beds in the city centre.

Planning committee chair, Cllr Lee Marsham, said that he was seeing “more and more” former council houses in his ward of Nechells used for student accommodation, adding that other universities has campuses in the city which required accommodation.

“As a committee we have to take the application that is in front of us. I think this is a better scheme in terms of the design and look than the previous one which was given permission,” he told the committee.

“I think sometimes we perhaps only think of universities in the city as University of Birmingham, but actually Aston University and Birmingham City University are just as important for our local economy and the people of the West Midlands.”

Following approval for the scheme, a 625ft tower will be built alongside an 8-storey shoulder building, providing 506 student beds and around 14,000 sq ft of outdoor parks and courtyards.

The development could be open for students as early as September, 2028.

The scheme has been designed by Glancy Nicolls Architects, with planning consultancy supplied by Williams Gallagher.