The four projects in Newcastle, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Portsmouth will represent a construction spend of £124m and are due for completion in 2016.

They form part of new regional strategy to complement the group’s projects in London.

Unite said it would also shortly be starting construction of its 862-bed campus scheme in Holloway Road, London and another major project on Olympic Way in Wembley, with a joint construction value of around £90m.

Mark Allan, Chief Executive of Unite Group, also warned that with London land values escalating and clear signs of construction cost inflation, these would be the last schemes committed to this year in the capital.

The pipeline of projects was revealed this morning as Unite posted pretax profits up 18% to £45m in the first six months of the year.

Allan said: “Following the success of securing four excellent regional sites in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Portsmouth during the period, our planned programme of 2016 completions is established and we are now focused on securing strong regional projects for 2017 completion which will be funded from the proceeds of the recent share placing.

“The prospect of rising land values is encouraging some vendors to delay land sales, which has slowed the rate at which new projects are being secured, but we have recently secured two strong opportunities under lock-out agreements (for a combined 1,000 beds) and have a healthy pipeline of further opportunities in line with our target returns.

“We expect to secure a 2017 regional pipeline of similar size and quality to our 2016 projects over the next six months.”