DLA Piper has acted for Knightsbridge Student Housing (Knightsbridge) on its acquisition of additional student accommodation comprising of 224 beds in Lincoln, to supplement the existing site of 1,329 beds in the city.

This acquisition by Knightsbridge, part of the Oaktree Capital Management Group, follows on from its recent purchase of the former Bristol Magistrates' Court, on which DLA Piper also advised. Knightsbridge is in the process of constructing a block of bespoke student accommodation with a build cost of approximately £16 million, which is to provide a total of 348 bedrooms and two retail units.

The combined value of the two developments is over £31 million.

Partner Steven Blacksell led the DLA Piper team assisted by Ian Doig, Roger Gough and Mark Burgess, who advised on construction commercial and tax issues respectively.

Stephen Blacksell said: "We are very pleased to have acted for Knightsbridge on these two transactions, which come at a key point in the development of their business. Knightsbridge, from a standing start, now have 4000 operational beds and a development pipeline of 5000 beds that will be delivered over the next few academic years. The team at DLA Piper worked together seamlessly to obtain an efficient conclusion for the client and are already looking at new opportunities with them."

The team have also advised Knightsbridge on the purchase of student accommodation sites in St Andrews and Edinburgh with the benefit of planning permission for student development. Drew Wallace and Guy Irving from our Edinburgh office assisted the team on the Scottish Real Estate elements of these transactions.