Company type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Student accommodation |
Founded | 1991 |
Founder | Nicholas Porter |
Headquarters | Bristol, England, UK |
Key people | Richard Huntingford (Chair) Joe Lister (CEO) Michael Burt (CFO) |
Products | Student accommodation (halls of residence) |
Services | Property investment and development |
Revenue | £276.1 million (2023) [1] |
£154.7 million (2023) [1] | |
£103.6 million (2023) [1] | |
Number of employees | 2,000 (2024) [2] |
Website | www |
The Unite Group (trading as Unite Students) provides purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) across the United Kingdom.
The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The Unite Group was founded by Nicholas Porter in Bristol, England, in 1991. [3] Aged 21 and following research with the University of the West of England, he recognised a growing demand for student accommodation. [4] After a period of expansion within Bristol, in 1998 Unite opened its first properties in London. It listed on the Alternative Investment Market the following year. [5]
In 2000 the business moved its share register to the London Stock Exchange, and opened properties in Manchester, Liverpool and Portsmouth. [6] During the following decade, Unite created investment vehicles to secure growth in London, across England and into Scotland. Of these vehicles, The Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF [7] ) is Europe's largest fund focusing solely on direct-let student accommodation. [8] In 2006, Porter announced he was stepping down as chief executive. He was succeeded at the end of the year by chief financial officer Mark Allan. [9]
By 2011 the business had grown to 40,000 beds. It remains the UK's largest provider of student accommodation by capacity, [10] but second to IQ Student Accommodation by value of its portfolio of property. [11]
In 2012 it founded charitable trust The Unite Foundation, which provides free accommodation and a cost-of-living allowance to students from "challenging circumstances". [12] In April 2014 Unite renamed itself "Unite Students". Simultaneously, it launched its "Home for Success" corporate philosophy; which it describes as its "business purpose". The Home for Success announcement included a £40m reinvestment of profits into the business and 16 "signature commitments", all of which relate to an improved student experience. [13]
Unite Group converted to a real estate investment trust with effect from 1 January 2017. [14]
In November 2019, the Competition and Markets Authority approved the proposed acquisition by the company of its competitor, Liberty Living, for £1.4 billion. [15] The transaction was completed in December 2019. [16]
On 1 June 2022, it was announced that it will be promoted from the FTSE 250, and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index effective on 20 June. [17]
The company provides residential accommodation to around 74,000 students across 123 buildings across the UK, [18] and is the largest and oldest PBSA provider in the country. [19]
The University of the West of England is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of higher education in the South West of England.
A dormitory, also known as a hall of residence or a residence hall, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university students. In some countries, it can also refer to a room containing several beds accommodating people.
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Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank was founded in 1765 but the wider Group's heritage extends over 320 years, dating back to the founding of the Bank of Scotland by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695.
Opal Property Group Limited, often referred to as Opal, was a company based in the United Kingdom which operates a number of large property developments in UK cities, targeted at students and private renters. Founded in 1998 by Stuart Wall, Opal was the largest provider of private student accommodation in the UK, providing accommodation for 20,000 students. The company went into administration in 2013 and its properties were transferred to other organisations.
Primary Health Properties plc is a British-based real estate investment trust, specialising in the rental of flexible and modern primary healthcare facilities within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is also a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index
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