Student housing in central Worcester looks set to increase in capacity, if two separate plans are approved.

Details have been revealed of a scheme to turn a listed Victorian building used by the YMCA in Henwick Road into housing for students.

Meanwhile, a major plan  by the University of Worcester to build a new campus and housing for 1,500 students looks set to be given the green or red light in the coming months.

Specialist student housing company Purple Frog , which already runs university accommodation in Birmingham, Bristol and Nottingham,  has told planners at Worcester City Council how it intends to transform the YMCA building into accommodation for  87 students with a new building constructed for  a further 62 bedrooms.

The site will also have communal facilities including a gym, cinema room, laundry and communal lounge and study spaces.

The application said: “The strategy for conversion of the existing building has assumed that all modern interventions sub-dividing the original large dormitories, classrooms etc will be removed, giving a clean slate for conversion.”

Behind the original listed 1868 building, the company plans to add a large L-shaped additional block, and intends to design it in keeping with the main building and have it largely screened from Henwick Road.

“The form of the new building was developed to mirror the changing scale of the earlier building, stepping down at the edges where the buildings come together, and rising further away,” the planning application states.

And architects say the new block could be made from red brick with slate roofs to echo the old building.

“Simple detailing is to be used that picks up on the emphasis of the Gothic styling,” the application says. “The roof form retains the characteristically steep pitches presenting gable forms visible on approach.”

The plans are available on Worcester City Council’s website using the reference P17J0577 with comments to be made by January 11.

The University of Worcester has also made changes to the plans it has submitted to Malvern Hills District Council for a £100million campus development at land off Oldbury Road in St John’s.

It has proposed access points off Oldbury Road, one at the eastern edge of the site, and another further west opposite Dudley Close and Ambrose Close.

The university also wants to provide more signs and  textured pathways for cycling on Hylton Road and Henwick Road to help students get about by bike.

All documents relating to the plan can be found on the Malvern Hills District Council website using the reference 16/01454/OUT.

Responses and comments should be made by January 10.