The largest student accommodation scheme proposed for Belfast to date has secured planning permission.
The Titanic Quarter Student Village will see 1,007 bedrooms developed on a five acre site next to Belfast Met and close to the Titanic museum.
Holywood-based Lacuna Developments and London-based Watkin Jones are behind the proposal, which was passed by Belfast City Council’s planning committee on Tuesday evening.
The plans include 286 studio bedrooms and 721 cluster rooms.
The developers have described the new student development as “car free”.
Student schemes have proved attractive to investors due to the planning exemption for the need to provide parking, something normally required for residential development.
Lacuna and Watkin Jones were previously involved in the nearby £175 million Loft Lines residential scheme in the Titanic Quarter, which managed to secure planning permission with little or no parking provision for prospective tenants.
The build-to-rent scheme was sold to Legal & General and Clanmil Housing last year.
The plans for the Titanic Quarter Student Village include a café, shared lounges, dining areas, games rooms, study spaces, launderettes and gyms.
It will also feature rooftop solar panels; air source heat pumps and heat recovery units; and rainwater recovery systems.
George Dyer of Watkins Jones said the scheme will help to address the growing need for student accommodation in Belfast.
A report from Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) published in March this year found 5,040 student accommodation units had been built in Belfast since 2016.
A number of major new schemes have opened since then.
Last year a presentation to Belfast City Council involving the two main universities claimed 6,000 additional student rooms would be needed in the city by 2030.
It said the market in cities such as Liverpool and Sheffield was now “highly saturated” with ratios closer to 2:1.
Anthony Best, managing director of Lacuna Developments, said: “We believe that our Titanic Quarter Student Village offers students and academics from all institutions across the city a fresh choice for managed accommodation, in an exciting area of the city.
“We are responding to the very real demand from all our universities and higher education colleges for managed student accommodation.”
