Falmouth University to be main tenant of £200m Pydar development
They'll bring over 700 students into the heart of Truro
Falmouth University will be the “anchor tenant” at the new Pydar development in Truro city centre, with an economic forecast showing that students will bring in an extra £50 million in spending to Truro in the first ten years alone.
Falmouth University, Treveth Development, which is acting as development manager for the £200m Pydar site, and Cornwall Council have announced the completion of Heads of Terms for the university to become the main tenant on a new purpose-built campus.
The university will occupy a state-of-the-art facility in the city, which will be home to 750 students and associated staff, researchers and business partners.
The learning and living environment will help grow both a vibrant local community, particularly bringing younger people into Truro, and Cornwall’s wider economy.
Activity at Pydar Street will be focused on Falmouth’s core specialisms of creativity and technology.
The Pydar development will be a multi-generational neighbourhood, with purpose-built accommodation for students, and 300+ high quality homes for local people including 35% affordable housing.
The development will include 3.5 acres of public and green spaces, over 12,500 sqm of food and beverage, a hotel, and community space to create a year-round destination for entertainment and leisure, and is likely to include new bars and restaurants.
The project will be a model for sustainable development, with a focus on reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable lifestyles.
James Windsor, Pydar project director, said: "This shows to the world and outside parties that there’s a formal legal document in place, which opens up discussions with hoteliers and other commercial operators.
"We’ve seen over the last couple of weeks there’s a high level of interest among people wanting to come to Pydar as they see the university, they see hundreds of students on a campus in the centre of Truro and they say ‘I’m a hotelier, I recognise that a portion of those students are international students, so they’re going to attract their mums and dads who will need a place to stay, or I’m interested in opening a bar or restaurant, a health food store, etc, as I’ve got a catchment of 750 students’."
He said that there will be more news on construction and the commercial aspects of the site over the next six months, pending approval of a Reserved Matters Application:
"That will be another major milestone. That shows to outside eyes that not only do you have a key anchor tenant in place but also have planning approval, a site that’s cleared and demolished, with archaeology work starting next week – so it all suddenly becomes a massive reality.
"People can now see this is really happening, it’s not just a pipe dream in the council’s eyes. The reason I say a pipe dream is all of the developers and commercial enterprises have known about Pydar being a development site for 30/40 years. It’s all well and good saying we’ve got a scheme now as people would say ‘well, you had a scheme before, you had a John Lewis development ten years ago’ – so this makes it a different reality now.”
Mr Windsor added there are huge benefits in bringing so many students into Truro, a city that often struggles to keep people spending after 5pm:
"It’s something we recognised in the early days of the project, that Truro doesn’t benefit from further and higher education students. While you’ve got Truro College, generally all the students stay in that Treliske area and don’t commute back into town. So Truro really struggles with any youth.
"What we know from university data is that while students in theory are poor, they still do spend between £100 and £200 a week on grocery shopping and other things, and that ramps up over the year to quite a considerable amount of money. The economic reports that we’ve had show £50 million in the first ten years of just students spending in the heart of Truro.
"Again we know that when families come to visit you get that spike in spending that goes up to about £400 when a parent visits. That’s all additional spending that’s really important to a struggling retail centre."
He said that people will move in to Pydar’s first residential units around mid-2026. By this time next year, all the groundworks should be in place with construction starting on the development about another six months after that.
"We are delighted to be progressing our involvement on this exciting project," said Professor Emma Hunt, vice-chancellor and chief executive of Falmouth University.
"At Pydar, totally aligned with the ambitions of Cornwall Council, we are blending learning, research, enterprise, leisure and living, to help regenerate Truro and to help address the future needs of Cornwall’s economy.
"Our activity will focus on Falmouth’s growing specialisms in creativity and technology, in fields that are flourishing in Cornwall and in disciplines that are adding value to sectors including heritage and tourism, healthcare and agri-tech.
"Not only will our students, researchers and colleagues bring their economic and academic value to the city, we envisage the facility and the resources within it as being open available to the local community for educational, entertainment and business uses."