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BSc thesis: Student housing on brownfields

An assessment of the barriers and opportunities for the development of PBSA on brownfield in the student cities of Amsterdam and Groningen

The Netherlands is currently coping with a shortage in student housing. The construction of Purpose Built Student Accommodation can help solve the housing shortage and for these developments appropriate locations must be found. In the United Kingdom, brownfields are seen as suitable locations and through conducting a policy review, interviews with stakeholders and a GIS analysis this research displays the main barriers and opportunities for the development of PBSA on Dutch brownfield locations. The study shows that these brownfields are located inside the urban environment of student cities, close to universities and well accessible by public transport which makes them attractive for students.

Due to the desire for constructing affordable PBSA however, other -more profitable- real estate products also benefitting from the brownfields’ spatial qualities can outbid PBSA developers for brownfield properties making it difficult for affordable PBSA acquire these kinds of locations. Therefore, especially in Amsterdam, mainly more expensive student housing can be developed on brownfield locations. At last, for the development of PBSA on brownfields, building at a large scale turns out to be a prerequisite as this is increasing the feeling of safety on brownfields as well as financially attractive.

Bron: Bruinsma, N. 2020. Student housing on brownfields: An assessment of the barriers and opportunities for the development of PBSA on brownfield in the student cities of Amsterdam and Groningen. University of Groningen.

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