Bank gives funds for student houses
Work has started to convert five adjoining properties close to the centre of Bristol to student accommodation following a funding deal from Cardiff-based Hodge Bank.
Empty for five years and formerly offices, 31-35 Cumberland Street has been bought by Bristol-based property and engineering firm Iesis Group.
Due to be completed by September, the new building will provide high-quality individual apartments for 86 students, behind the original grade two listed Victorian facade.
The deal was negotiated on behalf of the bank by Gareth Davies, who said: “We have a long-standing relationship with the Iesis Group and have watched it grow into a major property and engineering enterprise. From its offices in Bristol and London, the group has developed a reputation for transforming complex and sensitive sites into attractive buildings across wide-ranging asset classes.
“Valued at £8m when complete, the Cumberland Street scheme will be the latest example of the group’s skill in taking derelict real estate and turning it into a building that meets today’s needs,” he added.
Iesis Group chief executive Iestyn Lewis said: “We are delighted to have secured this complex site and once again to be working with Hodge Bank. Cumberland Street represents an area undergoing significant positive change and our development will help preserve this important listed building for the long term.”
Meanwhile, this year’s Julian Hodge Institute of Applied Macroeconomics lecture will feature one of the City of London’s best-known economists, Roger Bootle.
As the UK continues to digest the potential ramifications of Brexit, Mr Bootle will look across the Channel at the broader issues affecting our near neighbours in his lecture entitled The Future of Europe.
Roger Bootle is the founder and chairman of Capital Economics, one of the world’s largest economics consultancies. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee and a regular columnist for The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Bootle has written several books. His latest, The Trouble with Europe, examines how the EU needs to be reformed and what could take its place if it fails to change. It follows The Trouble with Markets, Money for Nothing and The Death of Inflation, published in 1996. In July 2012 Mr Bootle and a team from Capital Economics won the Wolfson Prize.
The Julian Hodge Institute of Applied Macroeconomics was established 17 years ago by Hodge Bank in association with Cardiff Business School. Its aim is to research the UK’s economy and relationship with other European economies. Its director is Professor Patrick Minford of Cardiff Business School, economic adviser to the Hodge group.
This year’s lecture takes place in Cardiff on May 10.