Affordable Student Accommodation

The availability of affordable student housing is an integral part of growing the Great Southern education sector offering.

The GSDC developed a business case for the increase of affordable student accommodation options in Albany, to assist Advance Housing in the Affordable Student Housing Project.

Stage 1 of the project took place in 2017 through the construction of student units opposite the UWA campus on Stirling Terrace.

Stage 2 was a $16 million redevelopment of the Old Albany Primary School site on Serpentine Road, opened in 2021. An additional 40 units were created, being quickly occupied by UWA, Tafe and traineeship students. In conjunction with the opening, a seminar room in the building was dedicated to the memory of the late GSDC staffer Gavin Ellis, who passed away in 2020 but was instrumental in the early days of the project.

Regional benefits of the project have included student retention and attraction, a broadening of the skills base and knowledge pool in the region, economic flow-on from increased student population, and growth of higher education institutions.