QIP, Gamuda Land Launch $128M UK Student Housing JV With London Project

Singapore-based Q Investment Partners has formed a £100 million ($128 million) UK student housing joint venture with Malaysian builder Gamuda Land to develop a 299-bed project in southeast London.

The property in the Woolwich area on the south bank of the River Thames was acquired in 2020 by local investor Hurlington Capital, which will co-develop the project, QIP said Monday in a release. The neighbourhood has become an urban renewal hotspot as work progresses to overhaul the grounds of Britain’s Royal Arsenal.

No purchase price was disclosed for the development at 81-88 Beresford, but QIP described the project as the company’s largest single-asset transaction. The purpose-built student accommodation marks the private equity shop’s 11th UK asset and first in London.

“We are targeting further UK PBSA opportunities with Gamuda as part of our respective larger strategy in the sector,” said QIP co-founder and CEO Peter Young.

Groundbreaking Soon

Demolition is complete at 81-88 Beresford, a site formerly occupied by a disused building known as the Woolwich Catholic Club. Construction is to begin this quarter for the accommodation to be available for the 2026-27 academic year.

Although Woolwich has no universities in the immediate area, the project is within a five-minute walk of several rail stations. Eight major institutions, including the University of Greenwich, UCL, the London School of Economics and King’s College London, are within a 40-minute train ride, according to QIP.

Plans call for a mix of 150 studio units and 149 cluster rooms, with amenities including communal study and lounge spaces, private study areas, a game and social space, a fitness centre, a movie room and a bike store.

QIP will share development management duties with Hurlington Capital. For Gamuda Land, which specialises in master-planned townships in Malaysia, the investment aligns with its pursuit of complementary, high-yield quick turnaround projects.

“By strategically balancing township developments with QTPs, we are able to deliver sustainable, high-quality developments with greater efficiency,” said Gamuda CEO Chu Wai Lune.

Still in Session

QIP previously set up a JV with Singapore’s Soilbuild Group on a £200 million UK student housing platform, seeding the venture with two development projects in York and Newcastle with a combined 650 beds. The platform has scope to scale up to £400 million, the fund manager said when it launched the JV last year.

Singaporean investors have continued to target UK student beds in 2024, with Far East Orchard expanding its PBSA portfolio into Scotland with a £38.9 million development joint venture in Glasgow. The SGX-listed company is teaming with Singapore construction firm Woh Hup Holdings to develop a 273-bed facility in the Merchant City area, the partners announced in March.

In April, Temasek-controlled Mapletree Investments revealed its acquisition of 31 student housing properties in Europe — including assets in Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Oxford and York — from its compatriots at Cuscaden Peak Investments in a $1.3 billion deal.