College u-turn on Evelyn Gardens
Two of the five Evelyn Gardens halls will house Imperial students this year
Imperial have announced that accommodation at Evelyn Gardens will indeed be offered to Imperial students joining this academic year.
This comes after the decision had been made to remove all halls at Evelyn Gardens from Imperial’s “accommodation portfolio”, arguably due to their worsening condition, and officially due to the property’s rapidly approaching lease expiry.
In a statement released online yesterday, the college said that instead of closing the halls from October “to allow for a feasibility study to consider the cost of future refurbishment works,” it would house Imperial students in two of the halls indefinitely.
This is contrary to a statement received by Felix in March of last year, where a college spokesperson said the halls would be “closed for a period while refurbishment takes place, or the property will be removed from Imperial’s accommodation portfolio”.
Whilst Imperial maintains the reopening of the halls was down to an “unprecedented rate of exam success among prospective students this year”, the UK’s A-level grades have only increased marginally. University places are up only 3% on last year’s figures, with A*s up only 0.1%. The director of the Qualifications organisation, JCQ, said the numbers showed “stability”.
The news will come as a relief to many freshers, as the rent (£132 per week) will be amongst the lowest available so close to campus
New students will be allocated their halls places within the next few weeks, and although Evelyn Gardens will not have appeared on their accommodation applications, the news will come as a relief to many freshers, as the rent (£132 per week) will be amongst the lowest available so close to campus.
Accomodation remains a contentious subject for Imperial students, after the surprise closure of Weeks hall, and the shortlisting of new Woodward halls in North Acton for an 'ugliest building' prize.
Bernard Sunley and Fisher halls will house Imperial students from October, while the other three halls at Evelyn Gardens will house students from the Royal College of Music until Christmas.
You can read the full statement here.
