Uniersity flats - South Clerk Street, Sciennes, 5 Nicolson Street (Accommodation in general)

Name: GAThrawn1

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Product:	Accommodation in general
Date:	05/12/00 (1104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable quality is guarantted with University flats

Disadvantages: Useless Accounts department

I am a third year student at Edinburgh Univeristy and have stayed in three different University accomodation flats.

The first one was 39 South Clerk Street. This is a first year flat and has about 120 people in it. It consists of four person flats and six person flats, I stayed in the one of the bigger six person flats. the facilities are quite good, there is a laundrette, a bike shed (two actually) and a lift. Since the flat is on a main road there is no car parking. The flat itself wan't bad but it could have been a bit bigger. The kitchen and lounge are one big room but the space is not well used and it feels cramped when several people are trying to use the kitchen. The four person flats are more spacious for four people, the kitchen units are simply in a line down one side of the lounge. In the six person flats there are three bigger bedroom and three smaller ones. Since I was one of the last people into the flat I was left with one of the smaller rooms. It didn't bother me too much, it was a perfectly adequate size. There are two toilets, each with a shower cubicle. Unfortunately the showers run off the how water tank which meant that we were always running out of hot water. This may have changed however, it was over two years ago I stayed there. All the windows are double glazed and do an ok job of keeping the noise out. They do an excellent job at keeping the heat in, most of the time we kept the heaters in the lounge off as it was always warm. When I stayed in this building there were no locks on the individual doors which I didn't like, hopefully this is something that has been changed.
Overall not a bad flat but nothing special.

In second year I stayed at Sciennes 1. Sciennes (pronounced Sheens) is at the edge of the meadows and is a back road, and is therefore much quieter then the main road. Again I stayed ina six person flat, although this time the kitchen lounge was much bigger. The doors also h
ad individual locks which I was pleased to see. The showers were electri which was much better than in first year, I could have a hot shower anytime I wanted. The layout of this flat was quite strange, it was spread over four floors. At the bottom there were two bedrooms and a cupboard. On the second floor there was the front door, a bathroom and the kitchen/lounge. The third floor then had another two bedrooms and then the top floor had two bedrooms and another toilet. Out of the six bedroom, three are smaller and three are bigger. Since the rooms were individually assigned in order, I was allocated bedroom 6, since I came last. This was the biggest one which I was lucky to get. The smaller bedrooms are too small, my flatmates who stayed in them didn't like them very much.
The flat isn't double glazed which meant that unless the heaters were kept high the flat lost its heat quickly. The phone in the flat is not a UNiversity one, just a BT one. I preferref having the Uni phone, no line rental and no problems sorting out calls. I ended up taking responsibiliy for the phone and I have regretted it ever since. Getting everyone to pay up wasn't easy. The facilities available at the flat are reasonably good, there is a car park, a good bike shed and a laundrette. There is no lifts however, which I sorely missed when moving in and out. Although this flat is University run it is privately owned which meant the rent was high, which is why I only stayed here for a year. Overall I liked this flat, although it didn't look very special. As with other University flats it had woodchip walls and unappealing hardwearing carpets. The kitchen had been refurbished and looked a lot better than the rest of the flat.

This year I am staying at 5 Nicolson Street. There are a variety of flats but I am staying in a two person flat, I decided I wanted a quieter flat after two years in rather hectic 6 person flats. So far I really like the flat
, it is much better furnished than the previous years flats. the furniture isn't cheap stuff that looks about ten years old, the only problem I have with it is that there is too much of it! The kitchen has been recently refurbished so all the units look good. There is a fridge and a freezer as well as a cooker but no microwave. The carpet is also a proper carpet, not a cheap hard wearing one which makes the flat look much better. The windows have secondary glazing, the main windows are the old sliding type. These keep the noise out surprisingly well but unfortunately you can't clean as with modern windows. The windows also do an excellent job of keeping the heat in, the flat is always warm. The bedrooms aren't huge but are a perfectly acceptable size. There is no lift or car parking but there is a laundrette and a bike shed. The bike shed is a big disappointment. For starters it is difficult to get to, down a floor of stairs, down a few more and then you are finally there. This is fine for walking but annoying for hauling a bike up and down. The bike shed is small and difficult to get a bike into. I had my first bike stolen during freshers weeks, the lock has been changed on the bike shed and so far there have been no more thefts. If you cycle a lot it may be worth looking elsewhere. I have to admit I can put up with it, it's just a shame when the rest of the flat is so good. The flat is supposed to have 'resnet' this is a system where you are supposed to get University network access in your room. I bought a compuer for this but unfortunately it hasn't been installed and doesn't look like it will in the near future. The rent is very reasonable (it includes £90 for resnet) as this is a good flat. I am very pleased with it and will hopefully stick with it next year.

A final note on Edinburgh University Accomodation services, their accounts department is appalling. They owe me £90 and despite me trying to
get it back for the last six 8 months I still don't have it. If it wasn't for the fact that I want to stay in Uni accomodation I would go private as the accounts department is useless

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