
Sirona Urban has signalled its intention to build more student housing, amid a shortage of the accommodation type in Perth.
Sirona Urban Managing director Matthew McNeilly spoke after the slab was poured on the top floor of the developer’s $150 million 30-storey student accommodation project this week.
Mr McNeilly is overseeing several large-scale projects around Western Australia, including proposals for a $360 million apartment development in Cottesloe and recently revamped apartment tower in South Perth.
When asked how working on apartments compared with building student accommodation, he said the latter was more straightforward.
“It’s easier … if you compare it to a build-to-sell market where you’re dealing with multiple purchasers, this is essentially a build to rent model, whereby you’re dealing with one owner,” he told media today.
“We’d be keen to do more purpose-built student accommodation in the city.
“We’ve got a lot on at the moment, … but certainly, this is a category or a sector that we want to be actively involved in long term.”
Sirona Urban purchased the site, on the corners of Wellington and Pier Street, in 2023 following Blue Sky Real Estate’s collapse.
Blue Sky had proceeded with a plan to build student accommodation on the 1,400 square metre site, but fell into administration during the early stages of the build.
Tier one builder Built, who was engaged by Sirona to construct the tower, was also the initial builder on the project.

Built director Jon Stone said he was grateful to be able to pick up the project, which will add 736 student beds, from where it left off.
“Back in 2018 Blue Sky was the original owner of this building, and when we started it, they went into financial administration, so the building was stopped at ground level,” he said.
“It’s a special moment for us that we did start the project many years ago, and we were able to pick it back up … [from] the original design, with some subtle changes.”
Sirona Urban expects the tower to be complete ahead of the opening of Edith Cowan University’s new city campus in early 2026.
The project is part of a surge in student accommodation proposals in Perth, as developers capitalise on a market in high demand.
According to Urbis, there are currently 1,678 purpose-built student accommodation beds under construction and a further 2,869 beds in application or approved for development in Perth.
Urbis director property economics and market research David Cresp said if this planned supply was all built, it would result in a 55 per cent increase in student beds from the current supply of 8,218 beds across Perth.
“Perth currently has a low number of student accommodation beds per student compared to other states,” Mr Cresp said.
“However, the supply of student accommodation is set to increase significantly over the next three to five years.”

Student accommodation projects in the pipeline include an 832-bed tower on Wellington Street and a 19-storey student accommodation project in Kings Square.
Exal Group is also building a 916-bed project next to Curtin University.
Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s property development arm Fiveight plans to incorporate student housing into its $400 million revamp of Carillon City, but few details have been released on that project.
Mr McNeilly said he would be very surprised if Sirona’s student accommodation project was not fully subscribed before it was complete.
“There’s really significant student demand within Perth,” he said.
“There is clearly not enough student accommodation of a variety of types, and our belief is that students are actually going to prefer to live in the city.”
UniLodge will operate the building, with Australian Unity, MaxCap and Sirona providing the equity.
Read article on Business News.