Expression of interest sought for development of student accommodation at MTU Cork

The development is hoped to be part of a wider project that adds 3,300 student beds to university campuses

Plans for on-campus student accommodation at MTU Cork are set to progress as an expression of interest process for private developers opens on Wednesday. Picture: Denis Minihane.

Plans for on-campus student accommodation at MTU Cork are set to progress as an expression of interest process for private developers opens on Wednesday. 

Alongside developments at TU Dublin, ATU Galway and the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, the accommodation buildings are hoped to provide around 3,300 student beds. 

MTU has a student body of around 18,000 across two campuses in Cork and Kerry, with the majority of students attending its Bishopstown campus. 

MTU president Maggie Cusack has said a lack of purpose-built student accommodation was creating an “appalling” gridlock around the Cork City suburb. 

There will also be an expression of interest for developers to build accommodation near other higher education institutions in Cork, Galway and Dublin.

The Government’s National Student Accommodation Strategy currently estimates that there is a 15,000 shortfall in student beds, leaving many students across Ireland facing long commutes and high rent costs.

Other estimates by estate agent Sherry Fitzgerald put the shortfall as high as 53,000.

A cornerstone of the Government’s housing strategy is allowing private developers to develop on university-owned land, as well as seeking to make rooms in owner-occupied homes, or ‘digs’, a more attractive option for homeowners.

“The availability of affordable student accommodation remains one of the key challenges facing students and their families,” said minister for higher education James Lawless.

"The publication of these expressions of interest is an important step towards establishing a pipeline of viable projects that can help address student accommodation needs across the country,” he said.

"We have consulted extensively with stakeholders over recent months, and I encourage those with the vision and capacity to deliver high-quality student accommodation to engage with this important opportunity.” 

The expressions of interest are being used as a means to gather information on market appetite for student housing development and examine barriers to development.

Colleges have often failed to build on existing student accommodation stock due to rising construction costs.

In Dublin City University’s 2025 financial accounts, the university wrote off €4.38m in professional fees for a planned 1,235-bed student accommodation project.

An Oireachtas committee on Higher Education heard that the project became "simply untenable" as planned costs for the development spiralled in the wake of covid.

Construction consultants have also expressed reservations about developing apartments on land not in their ownership.

“One of the larger student accommodation operators was sceptical about public-private partnerships because there has been a lot of regulatory change,” Paul Mitchell of Mitchell McDermott said to the Irish Examiner in September.

“You want us to go and invest tens of millions on a site that is not ours? What happens if they revoke the license? What happens if the rules of the game change and we’re fully invested?”