Investec provides €22m loan for Barwood’s PBSA project

Investec Bank has provided Barwood, a new client, with a £19.25 mln (€22.6 mln) senior development loan.

Barwood - St Chads

This 36-month facility will finance the construction and stabilisation of a 233-bed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) complex, known as "St Chads Student Village," in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

The project involves redeveloping the former St Chad’s Hospital site, originally built in 1808. It will preserve and refurbish two Grade II listed buildings while adding three new structures to create a high-quality student campus. This "village-style" development aims to foster a strong sense of community and inclusivity among its residents.

Birmingham is an ideal location for such a scheme, being a Russell Group city with three major universities and a large, expanding student population, ensuring strong market demand. The development is scheduled to be ready for the 2026/27 academic year.

Investec structured the loan to be flexible, supporting Barwood through an accelerated construction and delivery timeline and into the stabilisation phase.

The "St Chads Student Village" will help address the increasing need for modern student housing in the city.

Alice Harman, Investec Real Estate, said: “This transaction demonstrates our ability to support new clients with flexible, development-focused funding solutions, even where delivery timelines are compressed. By structuring a bespoke facility, we have helped Barwood progress a complex PBSA scheme that combines heritage refurbishment with new-build development, delivering much-needed student accommodation in a highly sought-after location.”

Ed Henson, director and head of Transactions, Barwood, said: “We are delighted to have worked with Investec Real Estate on this exciting project. The Investec team took a refreshingly commercial outlook on the intricacies of this deal, which involved a complex development programme, including elements of new build and conversion, within a corporate structure that included external Funding Partners and Development Managers.”