A £20 million city centre student housing development may not be home to any students.

The 342 flats, at the site of Triple Kirks, were given planning permission on the basis only academics lived there.

But now the developer behind the project, Dandara, has asked Aberdeen City Council to scrap the requirement – meaning anyone could be free to live in the properties.

The condition was originally imposed because there was not an adequate number of flats in the development designated for affordable housing, but the council has since dropped that requirement for city centre developments.

But the shift in policy at the council has led to the desire to change the development, with law firm Burness Paull applying to the council to remove the condition.

Its report states: “The council has adopted the city centre masterplan which seeks to create new and distinctive housing opportunities within the city to meet the increasing demand for central living.”

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A study was commissioned by the council into the issue, the recommendations of which were adopted at a meeting of the growth and resources committee.

The study suggested that the council would identify and support “quick win” projects which can be completed soon, as well as work with Dandara to ensure that the project moves ahead.

According to the report, dropping the condition imposed would help the council to increase residential properties in the city.

According to the study, there is a “very generous supply” of student spaces that fall closer to both Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen University.

The Burness Paull report added: “The Triple Kirks site provides an ideal opportunity to help the council deliver its aim to increase residential living within the city centre as soon as possible as no physical changes are required to enable the studio flats to be used by persons other than students.”

The £20m plans will see 175 studio and 166 en suite rooms created, as well as a cafe, gym and a number of activity rooms on the site of the derelict Triple Kirks.

A series of between five and eight-storey office buildings had previously been given planning permission since 1986, including and application by the Architectural History Society of Scotland in 1989. However, nothing was ever built on the site.

A Dandara spokesman said he could not comment on a live planning application.