Work begins at new Durham site

Work has begun at a new £80 million project to develop new College facilities for students at Durham University, with turf-cutting taking place on 3rd September. The construction at the Mount Oswald site will be built, financed and operated by Campus Living Villages, in partnership with Equitix.

The project, which was announced at the start of August, involves construction of a new home for the John Snow College and an additional brand new College. The facilities will provide 1,000 student bed spaces at the site, which is to the south of Durham City.

In addition to the new rooms, there will be a Hub building with an events hall, music practice rooms, a performance practice room, a yoga/dance studio, a launderette and a faith room. There will also be a separate Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA).

The Hub and MUGA are scheduled to come into use in autumn 2019 and the first students will move into the residential facilities for the academic year 2020/21.

John Georgakis, Interim UK CEO for Campus Living Villages, said: “We are delighted to be involved in the Mount Oswald project as a key operator and developer for Durham University, a prestigious and world-renowned institution. We have the experience to deliver the best in student accommodation and look forward to continuing to put this into practice.”

Geoff Jackson, CEO of Equitix, said: “We are delighted to add the Mount Oswald project to our growing portfolio of UK student accommodation. The opportunity to be involved in the development of new Colleges in such a historic institution is both extremely rare and exciting and we are confident that Equitix is well positioned to provide both students and the wider community with the top-quality facilities they deserve.”