The idea that vertical student accommodation buildings undermine community rather than build it reflects an out-dated understanding of how students live, writes Student Accommodation Council executive director Torie Brown.

I read with interest the opinion piece from Stewart Sweeny on Friday, decrying the planning approval for a brand new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) building in the Adelaide CBD as a ‘vertical warehouse.’

The article demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of modern PBSA design and overlooked the crucial role student housing plays, not only in giving students real housing choice but also in easing pressure on a rental market struggling to meet demand across all housing types.

What strikes me is that the author has likely never set foot in a modern PBSA. And more importantly, he seems to have missed the point entirely: these buildings aren’t designed for him. They are built around what the student wants and needs.

I am lucky in my role to spend a great deal of time visiting PBSA across Australia. I have seen the yoga rooms, the podcast studios, the libraries, the gaming suites. I have visited buildings that feel like luxury hotels, ones that have slides from the second to first floors, and seen the student managed bee-hives on the rooftop gardens.........

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