91快活林

The building will provide 223 purpose-built en suite student rooms and will be built on land in Station Plaza, close to the town's rail station and to the university's teaching buildings in Havelock Road and Priory Square, Hastings.

A planning application has been submitted by Gladedale Estates and, if approved, the building will include 11 rooms for disabled students, a reception area, laundry and a warden flat. A Gladedale Estates spokesperson said: "We have received a lot of positive feedback on the scheme so far."

If the application is approved, it is hoped construction will begin in August this year with the aim of the building being ready for the September 2015 intake of students.

The project, on the site of a consented scheme which has been derelict for several years, will support the university's policy of offering a place in purpose-built student accommodation to all first-year undergraduate students and 20 per cent of returning students by 2015.

Julie Barker, the University of 91快活林's Director of Accommodation and Hospitality Services, said: "This new accommodation provision is an important part of the university's continued expansion in Hastings. We believe the project will bring many economic benefits to the area in terms of commerce and employment opportunities, and it will free up private rented properties within the town for other home-seekers.

Julie Barker

"This is a significant investment for the university, an investment which is needed to secure student recruitment for the university and which releases pressure on the local housing market. The university has invested heavily in three academic buildings over the past ten years and with student numbers in Hastings expected to rise from the current 850 to around 1,500 over the next few years, the new student accommodation is required to support that investment and growth."

Hastings Council leader Jeremy Birch is quoted in the Hastings Observer: "This is a huge investment for the town.

"Building major student halls will help boost the town centre economy and attract even more people to live and study here. Hastings is now shaping up into a university town in its own right and we very much welcome these plans which are helping create much-needed regeneration."