IN Brief:
- Watkin Jones has signed six contracts with a combined value of approximately £60m.
- Five projects cover remediation, fire safety, refurbishment, and asset improvements across 1,750 student beds.
- The expanded retrofit pipeline improves revenue visibility while development funding and property transactions remain constrained.
Watkin Jones has signed six contracts worth approximately £60m as the developer and contractor increases its exposure to refurbishment, remediation, and operational property improvements.
Five awards have been secured through the group’s Refresh division, which undertakes work on existing purpose built student accommodation. Together, the projects cover approximately 1,750 beds across buildings in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Glasgow.
The packages include fire safety remediation, refurbishment, compliance work, and broader asset improvements intended to extend the operational life and performance of the accommodation. Watkin Jones said the contracts had been secured at margins consistent with its existing guidance.
A sixth agreement has been signed with Marick Real Estate for a Staycity aparthotel in Oxford city centre, adding a hospitality scheme to a workload otherwise dominated by improvements to existing student housing.
Planned for 38–40 George Street, the Oxford development forms part of the group’s effort to diversify across living sector and hospitality assets. The scheme will combine repeated bedroom layouts with constrained urban logistics and the operational requirements associated with extended stay accommodation.
Alex Pease, chief executive of Watkin Jones, said the contracts strengthened the secured pipeline and increased future revenue predictability. Projects already under construction are performing in line with margin expectations, while selected subcontract packages and materials have been procured earlier to reduce exposure to further cost inflation.
The company still expects improved second half performance to depend partly on completing several investment transactions before the end of its financial year. The additional contracts improve workload visibility, although they do not remove the pressure created by difficult property funding conditions.
Retrofit becomes a larger part of the workload
Owners of purpose built student accommodation are facing a combination of fire safety requirements, changing energy expectations, ageing interiors, maintenance liabilities, and competition from newer developments. Buildings completed during earlier growth cycles are now reaching the point at which more substantial intervention is required.
Refurbishment can address those pressures without the cost and disruption of demolishing and replacing an entire asset. Existing buildings may also occupy locations where planning consent, land values, or development finance would make a new scheme difficult to deliver.
Delivery remains complex because student accommodation is densely occupied, contains repeated room types, and operates around fixed academic calendars. Contractors may need to complete substantial work during limited summer periods or phase packages around occupied areas, increasing the importance of surveys, logistics, sequencing, and early procurement.
Fire safety remediation adds further uncertainty. Existing records may be incomplete, while opening up walls, façades, risers, and service zones can reveal conditions that were not visible during tendering. Responsibility for design, evidence, certification, and change control must remain clear across the client, principal designer, contractor, specialist installers, and product suppliers.
A larger refurbishment pipeline reduces Watkin Jones’ dependence on forward funded new development. Its traditional student housing model relies heavily on institutional investment, and higher borrowing costs have made some new build schemes difficult to finance at values that support current construction costs.
Existing assets present a different commercial route because owners already control the property and may have a clearer operational case for spending on safety, condition, energy use, and rental performance. Individual contracts may be smaller than full developments, but repeat work across several cities can create a steadier flow of activity.
The geographical spread of the latest awards also allows delivery teams and specialist subcontractors to move between projects. Repeated room layouts and recurring defects can support standard solutions, although each building still requires its own intrusive surveys, fire strategy, access plan, and compliance evidence.
Early procurement will remain important where specialist products and competent installers are in limited supply. Ordering too soon creates design, storage, and cash flow risks, while ordering too late can jeopardise an immovable student handover date.
The Oxford aparthotel shares several delivery characteristics with student accommodation, including repeated bedrooms, centralised services, constrained logistics, and a demanding operational handover. Those similarities allow Watkin Jones to use established design and construction experience in an adjacent market.
Retrofit also places more emphasis on work sequencing than new construction. Existing structures, occupied neighbours, limited loading areas, unknown services, and restricted working hours can influence productivity more heavily than the nominal size of the package.
The group’s developing balance between new development and asset improvement mirrors a wider change across the property market. Owners are directing more capital towards extending the life, safety, and performance of standing assets as the economics of replacement become harder to justify.
Watkin Jones’ £60m package provides greater certainty while broadening the proportion of revenue derived from existing buildings. Continued recovery will depend on completing the work at the expected margins and converting its remaining development pipeline into funded transactions.
