New building safety regime adding six months to delivery, says Unite Group

The Building Safety Act is adding six months to delivery timelines for new student accommodation, according to Unite Group.

In a trading update published yesterday, the student-focused developer painted a picture of strong demand in its sector but raised concerns about the impact of the new building safety regime.

“Our development programmes reflect the expected impact of the BSA, which will add around six months to delivery timelines for new student accommodation due to new approval gateways,” it said.

“As with any new regulation, this presents risks of delay due to capacity constraints at the Building Safety Regulator. 

“We will continue to work closely with the BSR to deliver safe and secure homes for students in line with our target delivery timetable.” The Building Safety Act has introduced a new gateway system, under which the Building Safety Regulator assesses whether risks and roles and responsibilities are understood at different stages of construction.

The trading update, which gave a financial picture of the firm as at 31 December 2024, revealed that the firm had sold 66% of beds for that academic year, which it said was in-line with long-term rates but below what it called “exceptional” levels seen in the past two years.

Unite predicted the “normalisation” in leasing trends would continue in 2025/26, with more bookings made later in the cycle. It is expecting 97-98% occupancy and 4-5% rental growth for the 2025/26 academic year.

> Also read: Clients show ‘total lack of engagement’ with Building Safety Act, says engineering services body

The group said that the outlook for both domestic and international student numbers in 2025/26 was “encouraging”, due to a 2% larger UK population of 18-year-olds in the first instance and a “more settled policy backdrop” in the second.

Unite has a committed development pipeline of eight projects totalling 6,600 beds.

The business said it had “continued to make good progress” in deploying proceeds from an equity raise last year, with half of the £450m now spent.

During the last quarter, Unite acquired seven assets from USAF, part-funded by the sale of two assets, and bought the land at its Central Quay scheme in Glasgow.

In November, it acquired the freehold interest of a 260-bed property in London for £37m.

Joe Lister, Unite Students chief executive, said: “We have seen a strong start to the 2025/26 sales cycle, highlighting the continued demand for our high-quality accommodation from both students and universities. 

“We have also continued to make good progress with the delivery of our development pipeline and have acquired eight investment properties, with value-add potential, in recent weeks.

“These transactions grow our presence in some of the UK’s leading university cities where demand for accommodation is strongest.”