It may not be quite five-star, but it's certainly a world away from the popular image of student living - as this first computer-generated image of Maritime, near Falmouth Docks Station, clearly shows.

Construction work has now begun on the site for 145 micro-unit apartments in six storeys, scheduled for completion next summer in time for the start of the 2008-09 academic year.

The £13 million development by Falmouth-based Devington Homes is described as "high quality student accommodation that is much in need with the unprecedented growth of the Combined Universities of Cornwall."

A striking feature of the new building will be the spacious students' common room in the west end of the top storey. This room will have over 1,500 sq feet of floor space and include vending machines, flat screen television and pool tables. The two story atrium entrance is of similar size.

"The one thing these students are not going to be short of is space," says Devington managing director Lawrence Butler.

"The common room will be a superb facility both to enhance student living through the academic year and to make it easier for those farewells with departing parents, who so often find nowhere appropriate to sit down for those final moments with their children after delivering them to universities."

Mr Butler added: "Maritime's reception area will feature a two-storey atrium with cutting edge security systems, postal boxes and tables and chairs.

"There will be a full-time manager at Maritime and the walls will be made of ten-inch thick solid concrete to keep noise at bay. Those who want to study will not have to compete with loud music from other apartments!"

Devington Homes has also acquired a lease for an additional half acre of unused former industrial land adjacent to the development site. This will be landscaped in order to enhance the site's overall appearance and improve the vista for the students.

Maritime will also include communal space, cycle store, motorcycle spaces, car parking spaces and access road.