‘I worked with Roland during the transactional phase of a residential project I was involved in whilst Roland was with the University of London. Roland remains one of a handful of true student housing experts, understanding the demand and supply characteristics of the market, the recognition of landlord expectations, a thorough grasp of legislative and regulatory requirements whilst keeping students at the heart of the planning and operational considerations. I would wholeheartedly recommend Roland to universities, investors and others looking for support in helping shape business cases or optimising performance. “
Sam Bailey-Watts
Student Housing Strategy and Operations Group Executive Director (interim) Unipol Student Homes
LinkedIn Profile
“Roland carried out research for us on our student housing needs. He was also able to outline certain legislative pitfalls to avoid in the model that we wished to create. His approach, both thorough and imaginative, meant that we were able to choose appropriate sites with confidence. I would strongly recommend him, especially to smaller HEIs like ourselves, if you are looking to deliver housing to your students.”
Simon Francis
Director of Estates and Facilities, Institute of Cancer Research
LinkedIn Profile
“The London Plan has been instrumental in ensuring genuinely affordable student bed spaces are provided in all new PBSA developments. Roland was pivotal in promoting this concept and in coordinating the consultation response of London’s universities. Without his analysis, tenacity and acumen, I doubt this would have been achieved. “
Julian Robinson
Director of Estates at The London School of Economics and Political Science
LinkedIn Profile
“Roland worked for me at the University of London on several key Estate projects. He was tenacious, dauntless and creative. His description on this website of the mapping project carried out at the University of London is accurate. It opened doors and created opportunities. His lobbying work and nurturing of relationships with developers meant that those opportunities became achievable projects. Latterly, because I was impressed by the quality of his work at the University of London I asked him to conduct a similar project for the University of Bath. Once again he has produced a body of work of very high quality. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to other HEIs.”
Dr Ghazwa Alwani-Starr
Chief Operating Officer, University of Bath
Roland Shanks Consulting 