In 2016, Brookfield acquired a 13-property portfolio as a base for creating an off-campus student housing platform across the U.K. The investment addressed undersupply in key university cities to meet the growing demand from international students. Brookfield was attracted to the sector due to our belief that the underlying demand drivers would continue to be strong as the globally mobile student population grew.

Through our operational expertise, we transformed a collection of independent properties with outsourced operations into a leading national developer and operator of premier student housing assets with a recognized brand. We worked with the existing management team to expand the business through add-on transactions. Their market knowledge, combined with Brookfield’s transaction capabilities, enabled us to double the size of the portfolio in the first year, building sufficient scale to assemble a full corporate platform behind the business.

Central to this was internalizing the property operations and creating a centralized operating business with finance, marketing, operations, development and acquisitions functions. This allowed us to position the business for further growth and establish a replicable model that has since been used in other European markets.

Over the course of our ownership, we grew the operating portfolio to over 23,000 units across more than 50 properties, with a further 3,000 units in the development pipeline across multiple properties. Today, Student Roost is the third-largest purpose built student accommodation provider in the U.K.