HUNTINGTON STREET - STRAITS VILLAGE

DML secured planning consent for a 300 bed PBSA scheme in the heart of Nottingham at 123 Huntingdon Street in October 2018, working closely with Glenn Howells Architects. The scheme was developed in joint venture with our funding partners Q Investment Partners, a Singapore based real estate fund manager focused on student housing and co-living assets.​

DML director Rachel Warren said “we selected Glenn Howells Architects for their award winning approach to design and our desire to create an attractive haven for students within a few minutes’ walk of the city centre. Our brief was a campus style approach that fosters academic and social achievements and caters for students across different stages of their learning”. 123 Huntingdon Street will be formed of five buildings ranging from two to eight storeys that are grouped around an internal private landscaped courtyard. The proposed scheme will provide a choice of accommodation from shared studios to self-contained townhouses, together with generous communal lounges, study spaces, entertainment and fitness facilities as well as curated outdoor space.​

The approach from the outset has strived to restore an intimate, urban grain that once existed on the site during the industrial lace manufacturing years. The design responds to the historical context of these red brick lace factories that were once predominant feature in the city, in addition to the local terrace housing. Redefining the street edges, creating communal courts and extending an existing mews have all informed the setting of the proposed built form. The development as a whole will improve the local area and proposes a widened landscape public footpath to Great Freeman Street that will help any future regeneration.​

Director Dav Bansal said “A richly crafted and articulate collection of red brickwork unifies the architectural fabric while the scale and typologies of the buildings respond to their immediate neighbours, from the marker on the prominent corner to the warehouse block on Great Freeman Street and through to the townhouses within the mews setting. The development will also deliver a much improved setting and connection from the residential areas in the East to the proposed extension of the Victoria shopping complex by upgrading Great Freeman Street as a tree lined avenue and marking the new crossing on Huntingdon Street.​

We believe its nod to the industrial past and contemporary design response will raise the bar for quality student living in the area, helping to repair the city’s fabric and enhancing the public realm experience. We are delighted to be given this opportunity to collaboratively work with our clients DML and QIP, along with Nottingham City Council planners, in bringing this exemplary offer to the city.”​

Construction commenced in January 2019 and completed to allow student occupation in September 2021.