20 August 2024 
Bethany Hancock, CUBO Communications Officer
Student Roost is one of the largest purpose-built student accommodation providers in the UK, housing over 23,000 students in over 50 properties in 21 cities across the UK.
Ashling Fox joined Student Roost in January 2024 as its Managing Director, previously holding executive management roles within the social housing sector at Bromford and Peabody.
With a strong focus on resident wellbeing, implementing a more digital first service, and with a booking promise in place to protect students ahead of clearing season, Student Roost is making waves in the sector with Ashling at the helm, setting a new standard in student living.
My first six months at Student Roost
My first six months at Student Roost has shown me that the skills developed in my career in social housing are transferrable to my new role in PBSA, where the ultimate focus is on providing customers with a safe, affordable home, meaningful connections with other residents and team members, and remarkable experiences they’ll remember for life.
Our properties offer more than a room for over 23,000 domestic and international university students and are a place of work for over 660 team members. We want our spaces to be a place of safety for all that use them.
More than ever, we’re seeing an increase in mental health struggles amongst the student community. Student accommodation away from university campuses need to adopt an ‘always on’ approach, ensuring we’re there when our people need us the most.
Our partnership with award-winning mental health charity Chasing the Stigma, to launch our #BehindEveryDoor campaign and introduce their Hub of Hope app, ensures that every student has instant access to charities and organisations in their local area who can provide tailored support for mental health and wellbeing.
Looking to the future
It’s clear that the student community of today want more than just a room. They want a home where they can make a trip downstairs to study, watch a movie or spend time in the gym, knowing that there is always someone there and they are never alone.
Our focus ahead of the upcoming 2024/25 academic year is to further enhance the student living experience, tuning in to what our Gen-Z audience want from their accommodation. We’re creating a more digitalised student experience with the launch of a new app, building a stronger student community in our properties across the UK and listening to student voices on what they want from their accommodation via pulse surveys and opinion polls. We’re also piloting innovative software for the maintenance management of our properties, which will allow residents to track their maintenance requests from end to end.
We’re investing in cities where there is a considerable lack of student accommodation. In 2027 we’re returning to Birmingham while in 2028 our first asset in Manchester will open. These two properties will offer more than a room to over 1,800 students, enabling us to create safe spaces, meaningful connections, and remarkable experiences for the future generation of students.
