Sneak preview of how students will be living (From Worcester News)

University’s £12.7 million state-of-the-art halls of residence nearing completion

2:30pm Wednesday 29th July 2009 in News By Claire Fry, @clairefryWN #WENews

THE finishing touches are being made to new state-of-the-art halls of residence at the University of Worcester.

Construction company Morgan Ashurst is preparing to hand over the £12.7 million buildings at the university’s campus in St John’s.

The halls are split into two blocks and each one is three storeys high.

All of the 182 bedrooms are 20 to 25 per cent bigger than standard student rooms and each has its own en suite shower room with a shared kitchen and common room.

Modern environmental features include rainwater harvesting and high levels of thermal efficiency have been used in their construction.

Dr Martin Doughty, the university’s pro vice-chancellor of resources, said: “These new halls of residence, along with those at our new city campus which will also open in September, will provide our students with additional high quality accommodation.

“Over the past five years applications to the University of Worcester have grown the fastest in the country and these new halls of residence will enable us to offer more students the chance to live on campus.”

Morgan Ashurst area director Dave Smith said: “As one of the biggest builders of student accommodation and universities in the country we have been able to bring a number of time and cost-saving construction methods to the project.

“These include creating the bedrooms offsite, using pre-cast concrete frames and modular bathroom pods, which are then transported and craned into place. This significantly sped up the construction process, which has ultimately saved the university money.”

During the construction of the new halls Morgan Ashurst used local workers where possible. In total, the company employed 30 sub-contractors to work on the scheme, including local furniture specialists Premier Furniture, which made all of the bespoke bedroom furniture and which provided employment for a team of 12 people for eight weeks.

The university was able to offer every student who selected Worcester as their first choice for study a place in halls of residence this year.

Places are still available on some courses starting this September and all students applying to the university will be assisted in finding accommodation.

Information about places available will be posted on the university’s website worcester.ac.uk.