New Crow’s Nest Student Accommodation and UCC’s Housing Problem

By News Editor Cormac McCarthy

Adding to the long list of UCC student accommodation buildings dotted around Cork city, the most recent addition to this list is the “Crow’s Nest” building located where Victoria Cross meets the Carrigrohane road. This 8,700m2 complex has come at a cost of €30 million and consists of 255 ensuite bedrooms in 66 apartments and includes health centres and other ancillary facilities. It has been described as “purposefully built and to a high-standard,” and “breath[ing] new life into this area of the city,” by UCC president John O’Halloran. This building will cater to the ever-growing demand for on-campus accommodation across the city. 

The design of the building differs to previous buildings with a more modern “Jenga-blocks” inspired design, where the buildings have been modelled on the tower houses of Italy’s San Gimignano.  

The total cost for students for the 37-week academic year period is €8325 (€225 per week), a price which is almost €2000 above the prices on offer for other UCC campus accommodation complexes including Victoria Mills and Victoria Lodge. This price is also above the fees demanded by many private student apartment buildings in the city, which is quite indicative of the rising cost of living that has affected students’ ability to afford to attend university. 

The total cost for students for the 37-week academic year period is €8325 (€225 per week), a price which is almost €2000 above the prices on offer for other UCC campus accommodation complexes including Victoria Mills and Victoria Lodge.

These 255 additional beds will bring the total number of beds in UCC’s accommodation portfolio up to 1534; quite a bit shy of the proposed 2000 that was planned in an earlier target set in 2018. 

Accommodation has been a growing concern for UCC with the lack of funding being the main issue outlined by the UCC governing body, returning like clockwork every year at the start of the first semester. With a student population in Cork City now standing at just over 35,000, many private companies have latched onto this surging demand for student accommodation with apartment complexes flying up all over the city in the last five years. 

Built at a cost of €53 million, the swiftly constructed Ashlin House on Bandon Road was taking on students in January 2023. It is backed by asset management firm Round Hill Capital, a real estate investment firm currently managing €13 billion in assets. Round Hill Capital also provided funding to the Nido operated 200-bed Bróga House, located opposite Lancaster Quay on Washington street. Amnis House, another private student development completed in 2019 and consisting of 190-beds has repeatedly come under question after a portion of its rooms were found to be advertised on commercial sites for non-student-exclusive use.  

Furthermore, brand new development, Coleman Court on North Main Street is now taking on students for the 2023/2024 academic year. This 280-bed development’s current offers to students range from €208 per week (€7904 for a 38 week period) to €385 per week (€14,630 for a 38 week period). This private apartment complex also includes access to a private gym, a cinema room, study rooms and a resident lounge. Operated by private company Mezzino, who also operate more than 20 other student facilities all over the UK and Ireland, it is located on a historic laneway connecting North Main Street to Grattan Street in Cork City. This will now no longer be accessible to the public thanks to the gates that have now been installed on the street.  

Perhaps the most ambitious housing student development is that of the Bottleworks facility currently under construction on the Carrigrohane Road. This proposed complex backed by US real estate investment management firm CA Ventures, who boast over €15 billion worth of assets across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. This is one of the largest purpose-built student accommodation schemes in the country and the largest ever undertaken in Cork city. While the cost of the development has yet to have been disclosed to the public, it represents another trend of private corporations taking a heated interest in Cork’s rapidly expanding student base. 

Although still not completed, it is currently registered on the UCC University list of private accommodations available to students, currently proposed to be available by January 2024. This 623-bedroom development is located on the site of the old Coca-Cola Bottling plant next to where the County Hall currently stands. The facility will be operated by Novel, another private firm who also operate 11 locations in the UK and Spain, and offers the same luxuries offered by all other private student accommodation complexes. 

The prices that are currently being advertised on the UCC website are some of the most expensive prices for any student housing in the city as well as the country with many plans only available to students under the agreement to pay a weekly fee as part of a 51-week contract. For example, although the cheapest price of €199 per week is offered to students who choose to live in a twin studio apartment, this still means that they will be forced to pay €10,149 over the course of the year.

The mid-range plan of €305 per week still ties students to a 51-week contract, meaning that they will be subsequently forced to pay just over €15,000 euro to attend just one year of college. All the while, it is still a kilometre and a half away from the actual college main gates.

Yet, it is inevitable that students who have no choice but to live in student accommodation throughout the academic year will be forced to pay such prices, as they will have no other option when scrambling to find a place to live in late August. 

While all of these private student apartments are necessary to attend college and attain a degree, it represents a failure by the government to not provide a significant level of affordable student housing. The rents that students will be paying will be largely contributing to the balance sheets of large financial private equity and asset management firms abroad. These rents could be a self-sustaining model that would be returned directly to the state under a government scheme but for now will be redirected out of the country.