Ogilvie Construction has reached a unique milestone in the Scottish construction sector, having built over 3000 student accommodation rooms across the country in the last five years.

The company is one of Scotland’s leading contractors in the student accommodation market and has completed 11 developments across Scotland. Ogilvie’s 12^th project – New City Road – is currently under construction in Glasgow and will deliver a further 315 rooms when it is completed.

Donald MacDonald, Managing Director, Ogilvie Construction, said:

“This milestone reflects the unrivalled level of expertise in the student accommodation sector that our team has developed over recent years. We have a real depth of understanding of what it takes to deliver high quality, sustainable buildings that meet every aspect of our clients’ needs and provide the best residential environment for students.”

More than half (57%) have been built in Edinburgh in 6 developments with 29% of rooms created in Glasgow in 2 developments, 7% in Aberdeen in two developments and one building in Stirling that accounts for 7% of the total. (Full list below).

Ogilvie Construction is part of the Ogilvie Group, one of Scotland's most consistently successful family owned businesses.  The company is over 65 years old and employs more than 600 people across its various business operations.

Student Accommodation Projects Completed by Ogilvie Construction:

Edinburgh

Arran House 

Murano         

Shrubhill        

Haddington Place

Lutton Court  

Potterow       

Gorgie Road

Glasgow

Collegelands

Kelvinhaugh St

New City Rd

Aberdeen

George Street 

King Street     

Stirling

Forthside Way

Ogilvie Construction has broken ground on a £20 million project to build a new student residence at New City Road in Glasgow for Bricks Capital, creating the second facility in the city for the ‘true student’ brand.

The 13 storey L-shaped tower will create 315 high-quality rooms in a mix of individual studios and shared apartments with associated communal areas.  Students will benefit from a range of facilities including a gym, cinema, as well as study areas and laundry facilities. The building is expected to open in late summer of 2020. It is ideally located for quick access to the universities, city centre and public transport links.

Ogilvie Construction has started site operations on an £18.2 million development to create Stirling’s first purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) building for Maven Capital Partners (Maven).

The high quality 207 bed facility at Forthside will provide a range of accommodation and sizes and is to comprise 123 studios, 8 one bedroom apartments and 76 two and three bed en-suite cluster flats. As well as easy access to the town centre and it’s transport links to the University, the new building will have extensive communal facilities including a cinema, gym, games room, laundry, as well as several private and group study rooms.

Donald MacDonald, Managing Director, Ogilvie Construction, said:

“We are proud to have been chosen to deliver bespoke student accommodation building that will offer much needed high quality living for Stirling students.  Our team has extensive experience and expertise in this sector and has successfully completed a number of similar projects around the country.”

Paul Johnston, Investment Director at Maven, said: “Stirling has one of the most acute shortages of student accommodation in the UK, with no private PBSA market to support the continued growth of the university. Maven is excited to be working on this landmark development which will help ease pressure on local housing stock and assist the University of Stirling to continue to attract the highest calibre students and postgraduates to the city. We are also very pleased to be once again working with Stirling-based Ogilvie Construction and their supply chain to the benefit of the local economy..”

Ogilvie Construction is part of the Ogilvie Group is one of Scotland’s most consistently successful family owned businesses.  The company is over 60 years old and employs more than 500 people across its various business operations in the UK. 

Maven Capital Partners UK LLP (Maven) is an independent private equity and property manager, focused on the provision of growth capital to SMEs across the UK, as well as funding a range of attractive property investments. Maven has developed a track record in the hotel, student accommodation and office space sectors, sourcing and structuring transactions with a gross development value of up to £30 million. Headquartered in Glasgow, and with ten other offices throughout the UK, Maven manages over £415 million of assets for a variety of client funds.

Ogilvie Construction was appointed as main contractor for Crosslane Student Developments, in partnership with the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF), to construct a new purpose built 235-bed student development.

As specialists in student residential, Ogilvie were tasked with developing the site of The Old Printworks into modern student accommodation comprising of 44 studios and 191 bedrooms in cluster flats, as well as facilities including a gym, common room, study room, laundry, cycle storage, bin storage and some disabled parking.

This tight city centre site was in the centre of Edinburgh surrounded on 3 sides by residential properties, just a short walk from the Royal Mile and the student hub. This logistically challenging project is six -storey high and will accommodate some of the city’s 50,000 full time students. 

The main building is a reinforced concrete frame with 2 staircases and 2 lift cores.  The foundations were mass filled concrete with waterproof tanking. The frame is infilled with lightweight metsec cladding and cement board with insulation and then a range of external cladding including stonework, brickwork, timber rainscreen, metal rainscreen, curtain walling and windows.

The 2 smaller studio blocks to the rear of the development have similar foundation but the frame constructed in pre-fabricated lightweight metsec panels and composite in-situ concrete decks. These buildings are also clad in insulation, brickwork and timber rainscreen. 

Challenges/Added value

All roofs are covered with a single ply membrane and the lower levels all have a Sedum roofing covering to give a softer impact to the surrounding neighbours and the environment.

Pre-fabricated bathroom pods for each bedroom were delivered and installed floor by floor as the build progressed.

The main interior is formed using drylining, ames taped and decorated with wash down paint.

Pre-fabricated furniture was also installed to each bedroom and kitchen for the students.

Gas fired central heating with a CHP engine and centralised boilers heat the whole development.

Each flat and studio has its own mechanical and electrical controls.

Solid timber doors with a combination of vinyl and carpet flooring give a clean homely environment. 

A courtyard area to the rear of the building has been formed in both soft and hard landscaping giving the students a further pleasant outdoor amenity space.

New 237 bed purpose-built student accommodation development, The Old Printworks, Edinburgh, completed on behalf of Unite, on time and on budget and fully let for the 2017/18 academic year

Crosslane Student Developments, part of the Crosslane Group, is pleased to announce that its latest student accommodation development, The Old Printworks, Edinburgh, has been completed in time for the 2017/18 academic year on behalf of the Unite Group. The total development value of the property is approximately £31 million. The development is fully let for the 2017/18 academic year. 

The Old Printworks is located in central Edinburgh, a short walk from the University of Edinburgh campus and close to the historic Royal Mile. Work on the development began in January 2016 and the building celebrated a successful topping out ceremony in March 2017. The new, purpose-built, high specification, city centre scheme comprises 44 studio apartments and 193 beds in clusters of between three to nine flats over 5 storeys. Students can also enjoy a range of high quality communal facilities including a common room, meeting space, laundry facilities, gym and bike storage. The contractors for the project were Ogilvie Construction. 

BBC Scotland have recently featured a video of Ogilvie Construction's unique project at Kelvinhaugh Street in Glasgow. The video explains the new building method that saves around 20% of construction time using shipping containers that are fitted out off-site then stacked together to produce a nine storey student accommodation block. 

The full write-up and video can be seen here.

True Student Living have released a fascinating video of their Kelvinhaugh Street student accommodation, currently under development by Ogilvie Construction. The unique project will be home to over 600 Glasgow students with luxury en-suite rooms and facilities including a cinema, library, gym and cafe.

Watch the video here:

The £33 million project to build a student residence in Yorkhill, Glasgow, for developers Bricks Developments is well underway. 

Built on the site of former warehousing at Kelvinhaugh Street, the project will create a 607 bedroom building consisting of three separate blocks of between 5 and 9 storeys constructed above a semi basement parking space. The images provide an overview on site development to date and we'll continue to bring news on our progress in the coming months. 

Ogilvie Construction has broken ground on a £33 million project to build a student residence in Yorkhill, Glasgow, for developers Bricks Developments.

Built on the site of former warehousing at Kelvinhaugh Street, the project will create a 607 bedroom building consisting of three separate blocks of between 5 and 9 storeys constructed above a semi basement parking space.