Firma Partners Backs One of London’s Largest PBSA Schemes at Royal Albert Dock
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Firma Partners has provided a first stage whole loan of £113m to DPK Group to fund the conversion of Royal Albert Dock, c. 450,000 square feet GIA of vacant East London office space, into a landmark placemaking PBSA scheme with a GDV of c. £300m. The facility will finance the refurbishment of 20 riverfront buildings, delivering 1,085 student beds alongside 55,000 square feet of retail and amenity space in the heart of the Royal Docks, where over £5bn of investment is committed over the next 20 years.
With BREEAM Excellent certification, full planning consent secured in 2023 and a conversion requiring predominantly internal fit-out works, the scheme sits a short walk from the University of East London’s (UEL) 40,000-strong student population. It is on track for completion in Q3 2027, when it will be operated by Homes for Students. In a London market where student accommodation remains chronically undersupplied, the transaction reflects exactly the kind of complex, value-adding repositioning of high-quality, underutilised real estate that Firma Partners was established to finance.
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