Full plans have been lodged to built an eight-storey student flat development on the site of a former Dundee nightclub.
A block with 215 bedrooms could be built where the old Liquid building currently stands.
The proposals, submitted by Newtide Investments Limited, would see the nightclub on South Ward Road – next to Fat Sam’s – demolished.
A cinema room, gym, study areas and bike storage are included in the student flats proposals.
According to a statement submitted to the council by Scott Hobbs Planning, Dundee’s student population is growing and there is a shortage of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).
The statement said: “To ensure the major universities in Dundee continue to attract students from all over Scotland, the UK and the rest of the world, the council must ensure that there is always a sufficient supply of PBSA development to meet
the potential demands of the student population.
“Currently this is not the case.”
‘Unmet demand’ of more than 9,000 student beds
The report claims Dundee has seen a 20% rise in its student population between 2017 and 2022.
Research from the developers found that Dundee has 14,570 students living away from home, but only 5,025 student beds – meaning there is an “unmet demand” of 9,544 students unable to access PBSA.
The proposals first emerged last July before a public consultation was held.
Concerns raised at the consultation included a lack of parking, overprovision of student accommodation, the loss of the nightclub, noise from nearby Fat Sam’s and Club Tropicana potentially causing conflict, and the size of the building.
Liquid closed its doors in 2018 and the site has been vacant since.
It was also once home to the iconic Mardi Gras nightspot.
Several student flat developments in Dundee
Several other student accommodation developments are being progressed elsewhere in Dundee, including:
- Work began this year on a £20 million project to build 150 student flats between Douglas Street and Brown Street
- Work is under way on student accommodation next to the former Grouch’s record store at the corner of Nethergate and West Marketgait, part of a wider development involving the construction of BT offices
- Student flats are planned for the former Robertson’s furniture store site on Barrack Street after it was destroyed in a fire
- The old De Stihl’s nightclub site on South Ward Road, just round the corner from the Liquid site, is also the subject of plans for student accommodation
- Developers behind plans for student flats just off West Marketgait have been given more time to take the project forward
Conversation