Education / UHI to shift student accommodation focus away from Knab amid concerns over viability
UHI Shetland is no longer pursuing student accommodation as part of the Knab development in Lerwick.
A new build creative hub containing student accommodation had more recently been explored at the former Anderson High School site but it appears this has now been ruled out.
Instead, UHI Shetland principal and CEO Professor Jane Lewis said the college will now look to reinstate the top floor of its Port Arthur House accommodation unit in Scalloway.
She said there were concerns of the viability of the project placing student accommodation at the Knab site.
Student accommodation was factored into a masterplan for Shetland Islands Council’s (SIC) Knab project, which is set to redevelop the former school site over the coming years with housing at its core.
It had been suggested the Janet Courtney Hostel – which is one of a few buildings which have been kept on the site – could be used for student accommodation, but it is now set to be made into flats by the SIC.
A creative hub had also been earmarked for the site’s historic Anderson Institute building but councillors were told late last year that it would now be “unsustainable”.
Minutes from a previous Shetland Arts meeting suggested that a new build at the Knab site featuring both a creative hub and student accommodation was then explored.
But speaking to Shetland News on Tuesday, Lewis said the UHI Shetland board has now decided against pursuing the Knab for student accommodation.
“We’re still keen to develop student accommodation, but we will not be doing that at the Knab,” she said.
“We did look at options for both on our own and then latterly in combination with the creative side. The second option, has just been decided that’s not viable in our current financial state.”
Lewis also said the project was “too uncertain”.
Meanwhile the chair of the UHI Shetland board Stephen Leask described the student accommodation project as “unfundable”.
“We could try and scratch around for funding to get it off the ground, but would we be able to sustain it?” he said.
Regarding Port Arthur House, which sits opposite UHI Shetland’s Scalloway campus, Lewis said a business case is being worked on for reinstating its upstairs as accommodation.
Part of this is getting the building “up to net zero standard”, she said.
Lewis said there is currently “nothing” upstairs, noting that there had been structural testing undertaken in the past.
Port Arthur House, which was built in 2000 and previously could accommodate nearly 30 people, was temporarily closed in 2018 to allow engineers to get the bottom of a structural issue on the first floor.
Last year a decision was made in principle to move the UHI to a single campus in Scalloway. At the moment the UHI also has its Lerwick base in Gremista.
There had been a planning application to turn the upstairs of Port Arthur House into office space but following an objection from Shetland Islands Council’s roads department, the proposal was withdrawn.
A number of years ago plans emerged from a mainland company for a student accommodation building on Lerwick’s Commercial Road which could have been used by the UHI, but this never came to fruition.
The Knab redevelopment project, meanwhile, is to be supported with investment of up to £9.6 million from the Scottish Government as part of the islands growth deal.
A report to a recent meeting of the SIC’s audit committee said £3 million of this is intended for a creative hub, with £500,000 earmarked for student accommodation.
The main part of the islands deal grant is intended to be used for housing.
A spokesperson for Shetland Islands Council previously said it had been “exploring all options” with UHI Shetland and Shetland Arts.
It was previously suggested that a creative hub could contain elements such as an artists’ studio, a gallery and darkroom.
An update released by the council last year highlighted that a total of 145 housing units are planned for the site of the former Anderson High School in Lerwick in phases.
The contract for core infrastructure works at the site was awarded to local contractor Tulloch Developments Limited earlier this year, with work underway.
Timelines for the development had to be altered last year after the SIC was advised to plan housing developments against a backdrop of reduced government funding.
A revamp of the Janet Courtney hostel building is now expected to get underway first.
However councillors were told in May that the affordable housing funding budget allocation for Shetland had effectively been increased following a U-turn by the Scottish Government.
It was also revealed in July that local company Ocean Kinetics had successfully bid for the Bruce Hostel – one of the other listed buildings on the site still standing – with plans to turn the property into flats.
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