The Spanish University of Alcalá in Madrid has awarded a concession project to carry out the development of a student housing to a consortium formed by Knightsbridge Student Housing and Inbisa Construcción.

The new student residence will be located in an area of 12,000 m². The new student accommodation project will have a total capacity of 404 rooms for a total of 469 students and it will include, among others, sports facilities.

The concession will involve the design, build, finance and operation of the new facilities for a period of 40 years. The project also involves the upgrade of the existing buildings and the demolition of one of them, all located at the Cuartel de Lepanto complex.

The total project investment is estimated at €17.1 million (US$19.6 million).

The project was awarded on 26 February and signed on 20 March this year. The new facilities are expected to be operational by early 2017.

The University of Alcalá is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km northeast of Madrid. Founded in 1977, the University of Alcalá is especially renowned in the Spanish-speaking world for its annual presentation of the highly prestigious Cervantes Prize.

The University currently enrolls 28,336 students, 17,252 of whom are studying undergraduate degrees which are taught by a teaching staff of 2,608 professors, lecturers and researchers belonging to 24 departments. The University's Administration and Services department comprises of approximately 800 people.