Glasgow adds 6,000 student rooms over 10 years

Almost 6,000 purpose-built student rooms have been completed in Glasgow in the past 10 years, data obtained by the BBC shows.

The figures show that since 2015, 20 student blocks have been completed, with the majority located in the city centre.

In addition, Glasgow City Council approved planning permission last year for the construction of a further 3,222 student beds - a much higher figure than any in the past decade.

Despite this, the city is struggling to keep up with the rise in demand, with data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) showing the number of students in the city has risen by more than 20,000 in the past decade.

Rents in Scotland's biggest city have skyrocketed in recent years due to a lack of supply and the council declared a housing emergency in 2023 amid "unprecedented pressures".

Earlier this month, it wrote to the owners of more than 2,500 vacant properties asking them to bring them back into use.

Meanwhile, the city's universities have seen numbers continue to rise.

Glasgow University has increased its student population by more than 12,000 since 2015, figures released by HESA show.

And Strathclyde University and Glasgow Caledonian University have also increased their student numbers significantly in the past decade, rising by about 3,000 and 5,000 respectively.

At the start of this academic year, a report co-authored by Glasgow University warned that thousands of students were at risk of homelessness after it suggested there was a student housing shortfall of more than 6,000 in the city.

Freedom of Information figures obtained by BBC Scotland News show 34 planning applications for purpose-built student housing have been accepted by Glasgow City Council since 1 January 2015.

Some of these plans are still under construction.

This includes a 26-storey student housing block in Anderston, which could accommodate 410 students.

A 36-floor student flat development near Charing Cross, housing 784 students, is also under construction.

This will be Glasgow's second tallest building, after the Glasgow Science Centre's Tower.

Developers Watkin Jones said the property, which will be called the Ard, will address a "chronic undersupply" of student accommodation and free up homes more appropriate for families.

However, city centre residents have complained about the amount of student flats being built in the area.

In November 2024, a 19 storey student flat was given the green light despite 60 objections from neighbours who claimed that the proposed building was excessive and that there were too many student flats in the city centre already.

A report submitted in support of the application stated that Glasgow was facing a "major supply shortage" of student accommodation.

Prof James White, a planning and urban design professor at Glasgow University, said that the new flats would bring "broadly positive benefits" to the city centre.

He said: "A lot of the student developments are on the periphery of Glasgow city centre, where the residential population is relatively low.

"These developments bring young people and commerce to these areas, so I think, in a sense, it's positive for the neighbourhoods."

In 2019, Glasgow City Council launched their city centre living strategy, which aims to boost the city centre population to 40,000 by 2035.

Prof White said that while these student developments addressed a current need for more accommodation, he is concerned about their longevity if the market for student housing drops.

"Being wholly reliant on students is problematic from a sustainability perspective," he said.

"We need a mix of different housing in the city centre - right now, its skewed towards students and how easy will it be to change those buildings in the future?

"If we're not also building parks and schools, if we do need to change the use of these buildings later, it will be hard for families to move in as they won't have the facilities they need."