At Freston, we are always on the lookout for companies that disrupt industries. Student accommodation in the UK was tired, uninteresting, and transactional. Student Castle, founded in 2010, sought to change this. They created market leading, state-of-the-art student accommodation in a variety of high end contemporary layouts. They designed properties that benefited from leading broadband and WIFI speeds, containing extensive facilities including high quality gyms and fitness studios, cinema rooms and common rooms containing everything from table tennis to pool tables to game consoles. On top of this, we found the relationship they curated with the students, through their 100% directly-employed staff, made them stand out and see them achieve industry leading retention rates and referrals.
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During Freston's period of ownership between 2010 and 2019, Student Castle developed and opened 12 schemes in Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, and York with each location carefully selected and uniquely tailored to each city's personality.
This portfolio quickly became one of the standout businesses in the sector. A disposal of the first five properties to Liberty Living in 2015 for £330m was achieved followed by a second disposal of the remainder of the portfolio to Singapore Press Holdings for £448m at the end of 2019.
Sam Dance | CFO
