600-bed proposal finally got approval last month – three years after first being refused by Westminster council
Student homes accommodation Unite has said it will have to write off £10m in planning costs after the firm said it had pulled the plug on proposals for a 20-storey tower in London that finally got approval last month more than three years after being first refused.
Make Architects’ plans for the scheme in Paddington were given the green light by London’s deputy mayor Jules Pipe in early December after twice being refused planning by Westminster council.
The 605-bedroom proposals for Unite Students and Travis Perkins were thrown out by councillors last January due to its height, scale and impact on daylight on nearby residents.
This followed a previous refusal for a larger 768-home version of the job in 2022, which had itself been scaled back from the original 22-storey plan containing 843 homes.
But in a trading update this morning, Unite said the scheme was no longer “financially viable based on our target return requirements and an extended delivery programme. We expect to recognise a c.£10 million exceptional write-off of planning costs in FY2025.”
It said securing planning had “fulfilled our contractual commitment to the landowner”.
The site is located behind Paddington station and next to Fletcher Priest’s Brunel Building which was built by Laing O’Rourke.
Unite also said it was mothballing a 500-bed scheme in Bristol called Freestone Island “while we explore options to secure best value from the project”. It said the move would free up £55m of capital costs which had been earmarked for the project.
Unite also said that it expects to complete the takeover of rival student homes provider Empiric, first announced last August, shortly after 28 January.
Unite is set to release its full-year results on 24 February.
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