Student Accommodation

Project overview

Project: Frenchay Campus, Bristol

Sector: Student living

Client: University of the West of England

Main Contractor: VINCI Building

Architect: Stride Treglown

Pod Type: GRP shower pods

Number of Pods: 757

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The project

Offsite Solutions delivered a £1.7m contract to manufacture 757 bathroom pods for VINCI Building as part of the University of the West of England’s student accommodation development at Frenchay Campus in Bristol.

This is the second student living scheme Offsite Solutions has supplied at the university, and the 17th project delivered for VINCI. The development includes three buildings totalling over 26,000sqm, providing 900 student bedspaces arranged in 4-, 6-, and 8-bedroom clusters with either ensuite or shared bathrooms.

Stride Treglown were appointed architects, with Amber responsible for MEP design.

A long-standing supply chain partner to VINCI

Offsite Solutions has a well-established relationship with VINCI Building, having delivered 16 pod projects to date. This includes major student accommodation schemes across Swansea, Cardiff, Coventry and Liverpool.

The bathroom pod solution

All 757 pods were factory-assembled in Somerset, using GRP (glass reinforced plastic) construction for durability and ease of maintenance – a key requirement for high-traffic student settings.

Each shower pod was supplied fully fitted, including:

D-shaped wall-mounted hand basin
Wall-hung toilet with dual flush
Thermostatic shower
Sliding shower door

Meeting Passivhaus standards

This project is one of the UK’s largest Passivhaus student schemes, designed to support a low-carbon strategy and reduce running costs by approximately 50%.

Offsite Solutions supported this objective through a number of pod-specific energy-saving features:

Cold water pipework was insulated to improve thermal efficiency
Thermostatic shower and mixer taps were designed to run at lower temperatures
Both hot and cold water pipework, brackets and fittings were fully insulated

This reduces the energy required for heating hot water and helps mitigate overheating risk – critical to meeting Passivhaus standards.

The customer perspective

“I have managed the procurement and delivery of around 3,500 pods manufactured by Offsite Solutions in the past nine years. Their approach suits VINCI Building’s model of student accommodation very well. They have robust factory testing processes in place which mean the quality is better and more consistent.”

“In my view, Offsite Solutions’ pods are the best in their sector and I would not hesitate to recommend.”
“This solution reduces the numerous trades for bathroom construction to a single supplier, which results in a considerable time saving."

"Each bathroom typically takes around three weeks to construct traditionally, whereas with offsite manufacturing, we just have to position the pods, make connections, and hang the doors. This is incredibly fast.”

– Steve O’Leary, Regional Business Services Manager, VINCI Building

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