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There is demand from first year students for self-catered, modern bedrooms on campus.  

The University is seeking to increase student accommodation on Streatham Campus by building new and refurbished, student living facilities that provide an excellent on-campus living experience and reduces pressure on the University seeking third party accommodation providers in the city. 

Construction work began in the Clydesdale, Nash and Birks Grange Village area of Streatham Campus in summer 2025.  
 

We are working closely with our partners UPP and the construction team Bouygues UK on the programme of works. We expect the work to take place as follows: 

Winter to summer 2026: demolition, ground works and piling (drilling into the ground to form foundations) will take place. Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) surveys will continue throughout this activity. 

Spring to summer 2026 (and beyond): pre-cast walls, structures and staircases will be delivered and installed on site to form the accommodation blocks. 

We expect students to move in to Phase One (which includes Birks Central Block and Birks A-E, and two blocks on the West Park site) by September 2027, and Phase Two (the rest of the blocks on the West Park site) by September 2028. 

Construction work began in the Clydesdale, Nash and Birks Grange Village area of Streatham Campus in summer 2025.  

We expect students to move in to Phase One (which includes Birks Central Block and Birks A-E, and two blocks on the West Park site) by September 2027, and Phase Two (the rest of the blocks on the West Park site) by September 2028.

As part of the planning application, in 2021 the University and UPP commissioned a Detailed Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Survey and Risk Assessment, by Brimstone Site Investigation Ltd. This provides detailed information on the location of potential UXO’s in the area. The Brimstone Risk Assessment sets out mitigation measures to reduce UXO disturbance risk during the excavation of the West Park and Birks Grange Village area. Following discussion with our neighbouring community at the West Park Local Resident’s Information Session in August, a subsequent West Park and Birks Grange Village Unexploded Ordnance Risk Mitigation Plan was commissioned to provide additional detail. 

The Brimstone Site Investigation Ltd reports can be accessed using the following links:  

We have included a summary of the main points from the Mitigation Plan below. 

Brimstone surveys and mitigation measures began in early October 2025 and will continue until Summer 2026. Notification will be provided when concluded. 

The following mitigation measures will be implemented by the construction team to reduce the potential risk of UXOs in the area: 

• Bouygues UK (BYUK) will have an experienced and qualified UXO engineer from Brimstone on site during the ground preparations to keep a ‘watching brief’ to monitor excavations on any previously undisturbed ground. The engineer will monitor all earth being lifted out the ground and then inspect the next section of ground that is to be removed. This method of investigation prevents the machine operator from striking a potential UXO. 

• Brimstone will undertake intrusive surveys by inserting probes into the ground to detect buried magnetic anomalies. All pile locations will be surveyed prior to piling starting to reduce the risk of striking a UXO. If Brimstone recognise a magnetic anomaly with the characteristics of UXO, they will then methodically unearth the area to establish exactly what had been highlighted by the probe. This process is in line with industry guided standards. 

In terms of an emergency response if a UXO is discovered in the area, the first step is to deploy a joint services EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) engineer to site, where a dynamic risk assessment would be undertaken, considering the variants of size, volatility, location. This would then provide a methodology for safe disposal of the UXO either on or off site. Brimstone have all the experience, qualifications, licensing, and ability to complete their own disposals. Brimstone would initially engage with the military upon confirmation of a UXO on site and agree with them whether the disposal is completed by the MOD or Brimstone, again this would be dependant of the dynamic risk assessment around the UXO. 

A West Park (including Birks Grange) project insurance policy has been purchased which covers UPP, Bouygues UK, the ¼ø»Æʦapp and its neighbours (within 200m) for any damage to property or injury arising in the event that an Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) is made safe, detonated or explosion of munitions of war occur in or around the West Park project site on Streatham Campus, up to limit of £150m for any one occurrence. It is a condition of the insurance policy that the presence of such munitions does not result from any act of terrorism or a state of war in the UK at the current time. 

As part of the West Park plans, a new footpath on Streatham Drive has been created to improve safety in the area.

On-street parking on Streatham Drive will remain closed to support safety in the area during the project.

As with all University estate projects, mitigation measures are put in place to minimise dust and noise from a construction site where possible. This may include installing hoarding around the site, damping down areas to reduce dust and planning noisy works appropriately.  

We work with contractors that are part of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, to ensure they have high standards in managing risks, protecting the environment and positive relationships with the local community. 

We are posting regular updates on expected activity and disruption in the area on the .

During the construction phase of the project, a transport management plan is in place that will outline the movement of vehicles and deliveries in the area. This plan is reviewed under , which is a national Standard that requires all stakeholders in construction to take responsibility for health & safety beyond the hoardings. It is also inspected alongside the same standard as th ensuring that all contractors are following the mitigation measurements which have been agreed. 

The contractor Bouygues UK is using a Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery approach to limit material stockpiling and reduce congestion. All deliveries are pre-booked through a delivery management system with assigned time slots and a temporary holding area is established off-site so the team can call upon the driver when they require its arrival, avoiding traffic on public roads. 

Bouygues UK have installed a traffic management hut on Streatham Drive to monitor and manage deliveries. They have a robust set of systems in place for managing vehicles coming to site and are looking to keep the vehicles flowing away from the residential areas as efficiently as possible.

Bouygues UK have secured a 90 space car parking area for their colleagues and sub-contractors near Exeter St David’s station for the duration of the project.  

Enhancing biodiversity and ecology in the area is an important aspect of the project. We are working with our development partners UPP to retain much of the mature woodland, plant double the amount of hedgerow that is currently in the area and plant over 200 trees. The new planting will include a mix of species to enhance biodiversity, and wildlife habitats will be greatly improved, including the installation of bat, bird and hedgehog boxes, and wood and stone piles to provide further habitats. 

The West Park project is being constructed in phases. The accommodation block planned for location on the grounds compound currently in Phase Three. We are considering the financial viability of Phase Three of the development and we are currently unable to confirm timings of this phase.

The relocation of the Grounds Compound to the top of Rennes Drive is currently under review. We will share details when we have a future plan and programme for these sites.