McLaren completes Warwick Uni PBSA: design and reuse lessons for project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
McLaren Construction Midlands & North has completed the second phase of iQ Longwood Place near the University of Warwick, delivering a total of 1,209 student rooms across nine new residential blocks and replacing Avon House, Swift House and a former multi-storey car park on an underused business park. The latest phase adds 637 beds to the 572 completed in 2025, with on-site crushing and reuse of bricks, stone and concrete from demolished structures to cut waste and imported fill. Across Longwood Place, plus schemes in Nottingham and Manchester, McLaren has now delivered 2,870 student beds in the region.
Technical Brief
- On-site crushing of bricks, stone and concrete created recycled aggregate, reducing imported fill and haulage.
- Demolition scope included Avon House, Swift House, a multi-storey car park and associated ancillary structures.
- Nine new residential blocks were constructed in two phases on the former business park footprint.
- Reuse of demolition arisings would have reduced landfill volumes and tipper movements through surrounding residential areas.
- Similar brownfield PBSA schemes can leverage on-site material recycling to de-risk ground improvement and platform formation costs.
Our Take
The phased delivery profile (572 beds in 2025 followed by 637 beds) gives Topland Vintage Group and iQ Student Accommodation flexibility to adjust fit-out standards and sustainability features between phases, which operators in Coventry and nearby Midlands university cities increasingly use to respond to tightening energy-performance and planning expectations.
Nine residential blocks delivered across two phases suggests a relatively fine-grained massing strategy, which in other UK university-city schemes in our coverage has been used to manage wind, daylight and overheating risks while still achieving high-density PBSA layouts.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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