Bristol students being put up in hotels as St Thomas Street accommodation not ready
The University of Bristol says they are 'disappointed' that this has happened and have apologised for the disruption
Some students in Bristol are being put up in hotels as their accommodation is not ready yet.
One of those affected is Lucy, who is travelling all the way from Newcastle this week.
She was allocated accommodation at 21 St Thomas Street, and only found out two days ago that she cannot move in until September 25.
Her mother, Mel, tells us that the whole thing has been stressful:
"We've had to do a lot of juggling around and are now out of pocket so we can bring her down this weekend and then come back again from Newcastle next weekend too.
"I think one of the main things was the lack of information. Rumours started circulating on social media that they were going to be in Newport like last year, or they were going to be in Bath.
"It seemed to me that the university thought that 'we don't have any good news, so we won't tell them anything'; and I think anything is better than nothing.
"I understand that it's a logistical nightmare for the accommodations office, but they should realize that there are lot of very anxious students desperate to know what's happening."
The University of Bristol says that they are working closely with the provider at St Thomas to push developers to get the property ready 'as soon as possible'.
They say the costs of the hotel will be covered and have apologised for the disruption.
A spokesperson for the university said: "We have been informed by the developers of new student accommodation at 21 St Thomas Street that it will not be ready to open for the start of term due to unexpected delays.
"During the summer, they told us they were hopeful the building would be completed on time but last week they confirmed that would not be possible and we were looking at a delay of up to three weeks.
"St Thomas Street is being developed, built and managed by a third-party accommodation provider, with the University taking a lease for the bedrooms once the build is complete. We are working closely with the provider to push the developers to get the property ready as soon as possible to minimise the impact on our students.
"We are disappointed that this has happened and are sorry for the inconvenience and disruption this will cause.
"Affected students have been contacted with an offer to move temporarily into city centre hotel rooms or alternative university accommodation where they will still have access to the range of welcome events and pastoral support available to all students in University-allocated accommodation.
"Details on the hotel provision, the cost of which will be met by the developers, has been communicated to students. Breakfast, evening meal and wi-fi will be included as will access to a laundry service. We will be block-booking to ensure affected students are housed together, where possible, based on their existing St Thomas Street flat allocation."
Bristol students being housed in Bath
Elsewhere, the university have offered rooms in purpose-built student accommodation leased from Bath Spa University.
They say they saw a 'significant increase' in the number of applicants this year, with 75 per cent of students meeting the terms of their offer at Bristol.
Every single student who applied for accommodation has now been offered a place in halls of residences.
A spokesperson from the University of Bristol said: "Like many other universities across the country last month, we saw a significant increase in the number of applicants prioritising the University of Bristol as their first choice this year and, with the introduction of teacher-assessed grades, 75 per cent of students met the terms of their offer at Bristol - up from a pre-pandemic average of around 46 per cent (from 2017 to 2019).
"The Government has been clear that universities need to make this work by adapting their plans to welcome as many successful applicants this year as possible.
"Students who had firmly accepted an offer to study here and made us their first choice are guaranteed a place in university-allocated accommodation in Bristol.
"Those who put Bristol as an insurance offer, or are returning, may have been offered the option of low-cost shared rooms or accommodation nearby in Bath. We are also providing support and advice to students if they wish to find private accommodation in Bristol.
"However, after being able to support more students to find accommodation in Bristol, we have scaled back the number of beds we thought we would need in Bath from a maximum of up to 300 to just over 100.
"All beds in Bath will be in purpose-built student accommodation in residences leased from Bath Spa University. Students will get a free travel bursary and access to our pastoral services including on-site support."