West Park Student Residences Project

West Park Student Residences Project

The University is increasing 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.

The West Park Student Residences project is creating new accommodation in the Clydesdale and Nash area and converting accommodation in the Birks Grange Village area from catered to self-catered. 

This will include redeveloping the reception, catered dining halls and the Market Place Village Shop (Birks Grange Central Block) into further accommodation and amenity space including study, social and in-house commercial space. The catered Birks Grange blocks A-E will undergo a refurbishment and will provide modern self-catered accommodation once completed.

UPP has been appointed as the development partner to design, build, fund and operate the new accommodation.

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 seasonal 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 Reserved Matters Planning Application for the project (ref: 22/1746/RES) was approved by Exeter City Council at a planning committee meeting in June 2023. This follows the scheme being granted Outline Planning consent (ref: 20/1684/OUT) in September 2021. A Minor Material Amendment to the planning application was approved in May 2024 (24/0184/VOC), the details of the amendment are in the tab below.

We have made adjustments to the design of Birks Block (A-E) and a new planning application for this Block was approved by Exeter City Council’s (24/1534/FUL).

We are working closely with UPP and their contractors Bouygues UK to plan the works and to minimise disruption to colleagues, students and visitors where possible. Bouygues UK are part of the Considerate Constructors scheme, which ensures they have high standards in managing risks, protecting the environment and positive relationships with the local community. This project will be registered with the Considerate Constructors scheme and monitored in accordance with the scheme's code of considerate practice.

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

We expect students to move in to Phase One of the new accommodation by September 2027, and Phase Two by September 2028. 

West Park Public Information Sessions

The University and UPP hold public information sessions for local residents to find out more the project.

The latest public briefing session took place on Monday 1 December 2025.
The presentation from that session can be found here:
West Park residents information December 2025

If you would like to be kept up to date on the project, please sign up to our mailing list.

Project update

Next steps

Construction work has begun in the Clydesdale, Nash and Birks Grange Village area of Streatham Campus on the West Park Student Residences project

UPP and their contractors Bouygues UK have started the demolition of the buildings in the Clydesdale and Nash area and Birks Grange Village area. They are continuing to install hoarding around the site and complete service diversions. A number of footpaths and roads in the area will be closed or diverted.

Holland Hall car park and the majority of the car parking in the Clydesdale and Nash area, on Clydesdale Avenue and in front of Birks Grange A-E are closed for the duration of the project. Alternative staff permitted car park spaces on Streatham Campus can be found here. Accessible car park spaces will continue to be available at the back of Mardon Hall, and cycle parking will be unaffected in the area.

We are creating a temporary contractor car park on the grassed area by Higher Hoopern Lane on our Streatham Campus. The dedicated contractor car park will help ensure that the West Park contractors park their cars and vans on campus and not on local residential roads or in nearby car parks. The construction of the temporary car park has been delayed until January 2026, due to the ongoing wet weather in December 2025.

On-street parking on Streatham Drive is closed to construct a new footpath. Some of the on-street car parking bays will reopen once the footpath is complete and some parking bays will remain closed to support safety in the area during the project.

Barriers and signage will be in place throughout the works. Please follow all health and safety signage in the area. Below is a map of the West Park development area.  

West Park construction site area

If you have any questions about the project, please get in touch with the project team at WestPark@exeter.ac.uk 

Construction lookahead

Below are details of the construction work taking place for the next two weeks:  

Please note,the dates and information are updated regularlybut are subject to change at short notice, due to weather conditions and workingwith external contractors.

The construction work is taking place during normal working hours, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm, and may also occur on Saturdays between 8am and 1pm.

Date

Details

Noise levels

Thursday 11 to Saturday 13 December

The demolition, groundworks, and transportation and crushing of rubble around the Clydesdale, Nash Grove and tennis court area will continue, creating ongoing medium to high noise in the area.

The Clydesdale Avenue pedestrian route is currently diverted to complete service diversions in the road. Please follow footpath diversions and take instructions from the traffic marshals. This will continue over the weekend.

At Birks Grange Central Block excavations will continue and stone will be laid to create a base for piling machinery. This is expected to cause a medium level of noise. Drainage diversions are also taking place in the area which will create high noise while the tarmac is removed.

There will be increased traffic movements around the West Park site, Birks Grange Village and on Streatham Drive as rubble and dirt is moved. Please take care in the area.

Removal of internal materials will continue in Birks A-E Block and hoarding will continue to be installed. This will create a low level of noise.

Medium to High

 

Monday 15 to Saturday 20 December

The works detailed above will continue.

From Wednesday 17 December, service diversion work will begin on the footpath in front of the Reed Hall Mews. This will involve sawing into the path which will create medium to high noise. Please follow footpath diversions.

Medium to High

 

We thank you for your patience and cooperation during the construction of the new student accommodation on campus.

Contact us

If you have any queries or questions about the project please email WestPark@exeter.ac.uk and we will get back to you. 

If there are any urgent issues on site, please contact the site manager Amber Gratton-Davey on 07345479453.