If you build it will they come? The boom in purpose-built student accommodation in central Liverpool: Destudentification, studentification and the future of the city

Abstract

The wave of UK higher education expansion and the commodification of the student experience have reshaped many towns and cities not least in the development of large swathes of private purpose-built student accommodation. A growing body of research has explored the role of purpose-built student accommodation in the processes of studentification and destudentification of neighbourhoods. This study explores the huge and rapid development of purpose-built student accommodation in Liverpool and, for the first time, raises questions not just about its impacts but about its sustainability. The model upon which many of Liverpool’s purpose-built student accommodation projects are based generates hidden risks and carries a momentum that neglects wider market conditions. We conclude that there will be a disorderly end to Liverpool’s purpose-built student accommodation boom and consider the likely implications for a range of stakeholders.