Student accommodation & PBSA
Know the envelope before the summer.
Purpose-built student accommodation runs on a turnaround window measured in weeks and a facade that carries real regulatory weight. Ovrsite gives operators whole-envelope condition across a dispersed portfolio, in time to plan the works and evidence the walls.
01The problem
A short window and a high-stakes facade.
A PBSA portfolio has two pressures at once. The envelope work has to fit a summer turnaround measured in weeks, and much of the stock is high enough that the external wall carries fire-safety obligations that will not wait.
Miss the condition picture and you either scramble to programme works you found too late, or carry a facade you cannot yet evidence. Both are expensive, and both are avoidable with a current record.
02Plain answers
The two pressures, answered.
Why does the summer window matter?
PBSA lives and dies by the turnaround between academic years. Envelope work has to be scoped, priced and programmed into a window that is measured in weeks. Knowing the condition before the students leave is what makes that window achievable.
What about cladding and the facade?
Much of the PBSA stock is mid and high-rise, so the external wall carries real regulatory weight. Full-height facade capture gives a qualified assessor the evidence to inform a fire risk appraisal under PAS 9980 and the EWS process.
03How Ovrsite helps
One capture, both problems solved.
A single drone inspection captures the roof and every elevation, so you get the planned-maintenance picture and the facade evidence from one flight. Findings are graded, located and held in Atlas, so the portfolio reads as one record and the works programme is built on evidence rather than guesswork.
- Whole-envelope condition ahead of the summer programme
- Full-height facade and cladding evidence for PAS 9980 and EWS
- One consistent record across a dispersed accommodation portfolio
- Roof and drainage risk caught before the next academic year
- Fast capture between lets, no scaffold, no working at height
PBSA portfolios, answered
Yes. Because there is no scaffold to arrange, multi-site capture is planned as a programme and delivered fast, so findings are back in time to scope and price the works before the next academic year.
It provides the high-resolution external-wall condition evidence a qualified assessor needs to inform a fire risk appraisal of the external wall under PAS 9980. The appraisal and any EWS1 rating stay with the assessor; we supply the evidence.
No. Capture is from the air with minimal disruption, which is why it fits so well into an occupied or partly occupied building between lets.
Every finding is graded on one risk scale and located on the building in Atlas, so a portfolio of blocks in different cities reads as one comparable record rather than a stack of separate reports.
Plan the summer before it starts.
Tell us about your accommodation portfolio. We will fly one building, return graded findings and facade evidence, and show you how it reads across the estate.