Nottingham Southside Regeneration Boosted by Wilford Road Planning Submission

Plans have been submitted for a new development on Nottingham’s Southside to help house the city’s growing student population.

Three Wilford Road is a 356-bed development featuring a mixture of studio and cluster apartments, along with generous social, activity and external spaces, which are all designed with student wellbeing in mind.

The project is the latest in our ongoing partnership with the developer Jensco Group, for whom we have also designed the nearby Ten Traffic Street student accommodation, due for completion ahead of the 2022/23 academic year.

This scheme is a really exciting one for us and a continuation of our excellent working relationship with Jensco Group and our collaboration with Nottingham City Council to ensure new developments work to meet the requirements of the city.

Nottingham is sorely in need of more student accommodation so that existing housing can be brough back into general use, and Three Wilford Road will provide students with a vibrant and sustainable alternative.

The brickwork façade nods back to the city’s industrial heritage and will be very much in keeping with the restored historic frontages along Wilford Road and Traffic Street. The overall design, however, has a distinctly modern feel, and really contributes to the ongoing regeneration of the Southside area.

Both Traffic Street and Wilford Road will benefit from vastly upgraded public realm, with the design incorporating an open plaza that will link to a community café, creating a vibrant and safe space.

Ranging between six and twenty storeys in height, the scheme is designed to be highly sustainable contributing towards Nottingham Carbon Neutral 2028 pledge.

Nottingham is leading the way as a sustainable city, and we’ve thought very carefully about the choice of materials and the setting of this design. The plans have a strong focus on enhancing and supporting the local ecology, including the planting of wildlife-friendly native species such as crocuses, which were historically harvested on the site.

Nigel Bobroff, director at Jensco Group, said: “We’re delighted that planning has been submitted for Three Wilford Street, continuing our commitment to Nottingham and the regeneration of the Southside.

“Three Wilford Road will be a high-quality and sensitively designed, car-free, purpose-built student housing development, with vastly improved public realm and fantastic transport links to both universities.

“Nottingham is seeing continued growth at both universities and with 64,000 students, there remains about 30,000 students unable to access purpose-built accommodation, with close to 20,000 students living in houses that could provide homes for local families”.

The project team consists of planning consultants P&DG, structural and civil engineers Hexa Consulting, heritage consultants Wessex, landscape architects Ares, and MEP consultants CPW.