Islamic bank snaps up Brookes block of student flats (From Oxford Mail)

Islamic bank snaps up Brookes block of student flats

10:00am Wednesday 3rd November 2010 in News

AN ISLAMIC investment bank based in Kuwait has snapped up a student accommodation block in Cowley for £28.95m.

The new building, on the former Territorial Army site at Slade Park, is built around a central courtyard and contains 350 ensuite rooms in apartments with independent kitchens and sitting areas, as well as 24 self-contained studios.

A spokesman for Oxford Brookes University, which will nominate the tenants in the block, said the new building would fulfil an important role as the university was under an obligation to cut the number of its students in private rented accommodation.

The Gatehouse Bank, a Sharia law-compliant subsidiary of Securities House Kuwait, will get a 9.63 per cent annual return on its money. Sharia-compliant investors only put up money for projects which meet moral standards laid down by Islam and cannot invest in anything related to gambling or alcohol.

Philip Churchill, Gatehouse executive vice president and head of real estate, said: “Student accommodation is an extremely well-established sector in the UK, worth £6.5bn.

“It is also one of the few sectors experiencing rental growth at the moment, with average increases of five per cent per annum over the last six years.”

This year Gatehouse has already bought two other UK halls of residence, in Loughborough and Liverpool.