UniLodge Files More Perth CBD Student Tower Plans

UniLodge has submitted plans for a 32-storey Perth purpose-built student accommodation tower. 

The prolific student accommodation specialist is planning the 832-bed tower, designed by Rothelowman, for a site at 609 Wellington Street.

The project was filed with the City of Perth Council this week by UniLodge, the largest student accommodation provider in Australia, which manages 36,000 beds across 105 facilities.

Aiming for a 5-star Green Star rating, the building would include study hubs and a gym on level two, with communal terrace gardens and amenities on the rooftop.

There would be a mix of one and twin-bed studio apartments, as well as five-bed cluster apartments.

The Perth tower would also have a ground floor cafe on Wellington Street. The Railways Institute Building, built in 1897, is next to the site.

The proposed development site is in the northern fringe of Perth CBD.

According to a CBRE report into student accommodation from August last year, Australia is deeply under-supplied with just one PBSA bed for every 16 students. 

In Perth, this situation is even more challenging. 

According to Australian Unity, which teamed with investment manager MaxCap Group and UniLodge last month to develop $1 billion of PBSA, about 92 per cent of students are unable to access student accommodation in Perth. 

The first seed asset in the trio’s planned portfolio is a 732-bed, 30-storey tower at 319-335 Wellington Street, near the new 60,000sq m Edith Cowan University campus development.