Reports

1. INTRODUCTION

Rising student numbers and the inability of the university sector to provide adequate student accommodation has offered significant opportunities for the offsite construction industry to meet demand for low-cost standard modular buildings. The client is a well-established and leading supplier of prefabricated structures used in a range of applications and would like to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the student accommodation market in terms of market size, trends, specification and purchasing process. 

2. OBJECTIVES

Specifically, the research included the following issues: 

• Review of student accommodation market size – student numbers, current provision of accommodation, volume of bedrooms built, recent trends, key market drivers and forecasts of development over the next few years.

• Estimates of split between traditional / modular construction, use of different materials in modular construction (steel / concrete).

• Owner/operator- market split by operator - the university or private developer.

• Specification process – role of University, consultants, contractors, system suppliers etc in specification process – key models used, key factors influencing choice of construction method, changing trends, differences between accommodation providers (University-owned, specialist providers, Housing Associations) in process etc. –strengths and weaknesses of different systems.

• Key suppliers – key players in student accommodation sector. – clients, developers, modular building suppliers

• Opportunities to influence process – identification of key decision-makers, and influencers, brand / supplier awareness, media used / communication methods etc.

• Market forecasts through to 2012  - key issues, drivers, market sector.

3. METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Process

Research for this project involved a mix of desk research and primary research.

Desk research involves the collation of information from a wide range of secondary sources, in order to establish market sizes, competitor shares, background supplier data etc.

Primary research is required to develop views on the specification process, assessing the process from a range of perspectives and a programme of telephone interviews with a mix of:

• client organisations (universities, housing associations, private developers)

• contractors

• specifiers – private and public sector.

• finance / funding organisations.

• Government

Approximately 50 interviews were undertaken across the sector to develop a broad interview. Interviews were semi-structured to adapt to the different issues in each sector, but were focused on collating data in line with the project objectives. AMA’s good understanding of the structure of the market enabled us to identify many of the key players in the sector.

Following completion of the field research, AMA collated and analysed the information.

4. LOGISTICS

The timescales for a project of this nature can be relatively short at around 6-7 weeks to allow a reasonable amount of time for interviewing. Costs for this project would be around £6-8k, with costs primarily depending on interviewing sample size.  

5. OUTCOMES

The outcome of the research was the development of a better understanding of the student accommodation market, in particular assessing the following:

• current and future demand for student accommodation – including the impact of the recession.

• role of different providers.

• build methods – what and why used.

• key specification process issues.

• Key decision-makers.