Student accommodation group Unite has acquired a major development in Selly Oak as part of a £56 million deal.

The listed company, which already owns and runs several halls of residence in the city, has bought the 418-bedroom project on the Battery Park site which is currently under development and due for completion for the 2019/20 academic year.

The halls form part of the wider regeneration of the former metal working factory site which will also include a new Sainsbury's supermarket, shops and other commercial property.

This buyout was part of a £56 million deal which saw Unite also acquire accommodation in Durham.

Unite said the acquisitions supported its strategy of concentrating its portfolio alongside high-ranking universities with a structural demand and supply imbalance while focusing on shared flats rather than single occupancy studios.

The halls in Selly Oak will be privately run but are most likely to attract students from the nearby University of Birmingham campus.

Unite's property director Richard Simpson said: "These transactions demonstrate our strategy of investing in new, larger and more efficient properties with cluster flat accommodation, available at a lower price point for students.

"We will continue to deploy funds from the disposals made at the start of the year to further improve the quality of the portfolio and to extend our highly accretive development programme in strong regional locations with top-ranked universities like Durham or Birmingham where we see the most sustainable growth."