Plans to transform vacant shop on Falkirk High Street into student accomodation granted

A large vacant shop on Falkirk High Street could become home to 107 students now that planning permission has been granted.

The old Wilko store at 71-73 High Street, which has been empty since 2023, can now be converted into the area’s first Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) with facilities that include a gym, lounge, restaurant and study spaces.

A small part of the building, facing into the Howgate shopping centre, will be retained as a shop.

When applying for permission, the developers, Ghanshyam Property Ltd, noted that student accommodation is in short supply in the Falkirk area.

Forth Valley College – which has 12,000 students, many of whom attend the Falkirk campus – agreed that more and better accommodation is needed for students, with some currently living in Glasgow or Stirling.

In a letter of support, college principal Kenny MacInnes said he would welcome high quality living spaces for students.

He wrote: “While FVC makes no commitment regarding the specific use of any planned accommodation, we support the concept of purpose-built student housing as it could address a key gap in the local market and benefit the wider
community.”

Falkirk Council is currently developing a former shopping centre, Callendar Square, into a new town hall with a theatre, library and advice centre, in the hope it will bring people into the town and revitalise it.

As larger shops in particular have closed, leaving vacant units that are difficult to let, the council’s policy is to encourage the transformation of existing retail space into accommodation.

Several projects have successfully done this already.

But converting town centre shops into flats is expensive and time-consuming and in their planning statement, the developers argue that a “bolder” approach is required to really bring life back into the high street.

The five-storey accommodation block will be built around a small courtyard, using a lightweight Structural Framing System to build additional floors off the existing basement and sub substructure.

According to Falkirk-based Arka Architects, which prepared the design statement, despite its height, the block will be fairly hidden by other buildings and surrounding streets.

The High Street entrance – which is in a conservation area but is not listed – will be remodelled but the architects say it will reflect the building’s history and fit in well with the remaining shops that surround it.

PBSA has been controversial in other parts of Scotland, particularly in Edinburgh where it is expensive, with rents typically around £1,400 a month or more.

Some critics also say it is being built instead of less profitable, but much-needed affordable homes.

According to the applicants, “the proposed PBSA block offers a significantly better level of accommodation than similar developments recently completed in both Edinburgh and Glasgow”.

As well as larger room sizes, it will have more communal facilities, while proposed rents will also be less than those in the cities.

The applicants believe that “given the quality of the proposal, this may also prove a competitive location for students attending tertiary education in other adjacent areas: Alloa, Stirling and possibly Glasgow and Edinburgh”.