The proposal for 409 Kennington Road isn’t for flats for members of the public to buy or rent. It’s for Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). The units within this type of accommodation typically consist of a bedroom with a small study area and a bathroom. Kitchens and living space are provided separately for collective use by the occupants. This means that greater densities can be achieved as compared to self-contained flats or apartments.

PBSA is intended for people who are studying full-time, typically at bachelor’s degree level. Most universities make a guarantee to 1st year (fresher) students and to international students that a place will be found for them in such PBSA. It used to be that universities built and managed their own halls of residence, but the trend now is for specialist organisations to do this. The developers say they intend to manage the accommodation themselves, so we don’t know which university, or universities, would contract with them to place their students there.  

North Lambeth has already seen considerable development of PBSA, mainly in Vauxhall, but also spreading into Kennington. We’ve counted 4367 units, and, if we include 409 Kennington Road, there are a further 2149 units in the pipeline, either in the planning process or under construction.

We’ve asked ourselves why these PBSA buildings are being pushed forward. We’ve realised that recent governments have vastly exceeded their own targets for issuing international student visas. This benefits universities because the fees they can charge such students are higher than what is permitted for UK residents. Developers have moved on to PBSA because demand for office buildings has fallen away, and the future demand for hotel beds is uncertain. Owing to the densities and high level of rents charged to students, there is often more money to be made than in providing accommodation for Londoners. The government has issued local authorities with targets for new housing builds. Every 2.5 PBSA completion counts as one housing unit, thereby incentivising councils to green light such developments. 

The likelihood is the local communities will lose out. Sites that could be devoted to much-needed housing or employment are lost. Lambeth council’s statutory plan doesn’t identify sites or zones suitable for PBSA, so each application goes forward in isolation, without an overall view being taken. Thus a residential neighbourhood like ours could be changed towards something like a student quarter through stealth without the scrutiny of the democratic process. Further, the sheer numbers of people housed in PBSA may lead to specific problems of noise, congestion etc., to the detriment of the local community.