Decision looms on venture tower’s student accommodation plans
A decision on plans to convert Venture Tower, a 1960s office building on Fratton Road, into student accommodation will be made next week.
The proposal would transform the first to eighth floors into a student residence with 100 bedrooms, alongside extensions, new cladding, and communal facilities.
The ground floor, which currently houses shops and takeaways, will remain as commercial space. Plans include a new brick slip cladding system on the lower part of the building, keeping some of the original brickwork instead of the previously proposed dark grey and black materials.
An earlier approval allowed for 97 student rooms, but the revised scheme increases this to 100 and removes the first-floor office space, which was still in use when the previous application was granted. If approved, the vacant office space will be converted into a gym for residents.
The development will include a mix of fully accessible rooms, studio apartments, and self-contained units. Communal areas such as study rooms, a leisure room, a cinema, and a gym will be spread across the first to fourth floors, with a shared terrace on the fifth floor.
Planning officers have recommended that councillors approve the application, subject to 15 conditions. The application has received eleven comments from the public and consultees, including one from Hampshire Constabulary, which raised concerns about crime in student accommodation.
A spokesperson requested a planning condition be imposed to “ensure that crime prevention design measures are considered and taken account of”, adding: “This will ensure that main causes of crime in student accommodation are addressed.”
Other objections argue the building should be used for general housing rather than student accommodation, which some residents feel is given priority in Portsmouth’s planning system.
One comment reads: “We don’t need any more student housing when current student housing is not full. Local infrastructure hasn’t been taken into consideration with this planning, especially parking, as the surrounding areas are already at breaking point.”
Portsmouth City Council's planning committee is set to make a decision next Wednesday (February 26).