Kepier Court student accommodation

We constructed a student accommodation development in suburban Durham that provides 214 bed spaces through four new buildings, plus the conversion and refurbishment of the historic Kepier House.

Kepier Court is a carefully considered student accommodation scheme that uses redundant brownfield land, while remaining sensitive to Kepier House and the surrounding suburban and historic context.

Although Kepier House is not listed, the development site is located within the Durham City Conservation Area and our sensitive approach resulted in its retention. Construction work also took into account the residential location with detailed programming and a restriction on noisy equipment to minimise disruption.

The building was at one time used as a prison, and the residences will be branded as "The Clink" when completed.

In addition to relatively low-density accommodation blocks with an appropriate suburban scale, the scheme includes approximately 2,500m2 of amenity space, which integrates existing trees and planting with new hard and soft landscaped areas.

The focal point of the scheme is a central courtyard garden area in front of Kepier House. The proposals maximised the retention of most of the existing mature trees on the site.

Robertson North East England constructed the development, with Robertson Engineering Services providing M&E.