The Walls, 24 Bernard Street, Southampton

With two universities in Southampton and a student population of over 40,000, student accommodation on brownfield sites within the city centre is a sought after commodity, and Paul Basham Associates transport planning team helped secure consent for 76 student dwellings just of Southampton High Street.

Following a previous change of use approval from office into 42 studio apartments, Luken Beck and Eastbury Developments approached Paul Basham Associates to support the application for a further 2 stories of 34 open market student flats, with the intention of collective building providing 76 units suitable for student housing.

Initially our team worked with the architects, planners and client to review the internal layout as a whole to ensure that the development was functional in terms of parking requirements, servicing and emergency access.

The team at Paul Basham Associates then prepared a Transport Statement, which considered the existing approval and the previous office use to establish the net multi-modal traffic impact of the development, and indeed the various possible implementation scenarios (e.g additional student flats above retained offices).

We also drafted a cost-effective and realistic Travel Plan strategy, aimed at encouraging students to use alternative transport methods.

The development received consent with no highways objections from Southampton City Council. Paul Basham Associates were then called upon swiftly to undertake a Pre-Construction Highways Condition Survey to allow works to commence punctually on site, and a Post-Construction survey to meet the Section 106 obligation. The new accommodation opened in September 2016.