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Halls Of Residence At The University Of Birmingham
by daemonicragnorak
After reading the other review on Ashcroft I thought it would be best to update it s it has been 6 years since it was written.
Ashcroft is a group of student flats in the Pritchatts Park Student Village at the University of Birmingham. Each flat houses 6 people in single bedrooms with shared bathroom ... facilities.
-----Study-Bedrooms-----
The bedrooms are classified as study-bedrooms and this is because you get a huge desk, which is usually attached to the chest of drawers too; when measure you end up with around 4 square metres of desk space, which is alot.
In the room you also have large bookcases on the walls, which can hold around 200 standard books without piling them on top of each other, and a large wardrobe, which could hold an estimated 100 hung garments. Along with these you get a single bed, with a good sturdy metal frame, and a headboard-come-bedside-table.
You also receive a free unlimited broadband (2MB), a big pin-board and a phone, which you can call any other university number on for free (including other dorms - really useful for being social).
The rooms can be as warm as you want due to bills included in rent so there is no heating problems. In some of the rooms there is the case of damp around the windows but I imagine over the summer holidays that will be fixed when the flats are vacant.
-----Kitchen-----
You will get a shared kitchen with a big table with enough chairs for all of you, with the lack of a living area this tends to be where socialising happens. There is also all the normal appliances in the kitchen, gas cooker, freezer, microwave and 2 fridges.
As far as storage space there is enough cupboards to have a wall cupboard and a floor cupboard each. On top of that you would share a fridge between three people and have a freezer drawer to yourself; all in all alot of kitchen space each.
The kitchens tend to be in good repair, and as long as you have good flat mates then keeping it nice wont be a problem.
-----Bathrooms-----
You share bathroom facilities of which there are two in each flat; one is a standard toilet while the other has a bath, with a shower attachment, along with the toilet. These showers again stay great as long as you take care of it and don't allow muck to build up.
-----General Other Points-----
The whole flats were refurbished a fair few years ago so all the décor does look old and it is noticeable with a few rooms where some of the paint has peeled away. These minor problems will be fixed over the summer by university staff so it shouldn't be something to worry new comers to Ashcroft.
Ashcroft is the cheapest university accommodation for UoB, and having seen other flats you can tell why. In some of the other flat groups they have en-suites and have nice living rooms with sofas, with Ashcroft you get what you need to survive and no more. When you look at the price difference it doesn't make the sense with some of the nicer flats costing around three times as much as Ashcroft, personally I'd pick Ashcroft every time just as the price jump to the next cheapest is almost £1000.
As mentioned earlier bills are included (gas, water and electric), along with a basic broadband package, however phone and TV licences are extra. We have been making the most of the free heating and we enjoy living at 30 degrees all year round, the free bills is something that will be missed once out of uni flats.
You may not get a living room but with you big study bedrooms along with a big kitchen there is always somewhere to be social, and lets face it at university you'll hit the clubs if you want to be social.
Ashcroft is everything you expect from a student accommodation and at an affordable price; only go to another flat group if you are prepared to pay the extra money needed to get an en-suite bedroom.
It beats the rest hands down for value for money and there is nothing wrong with it; in fact some of the other flat groups have smaller bedrooms, even though they are more expensive!
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Halls Of Residence At The University Of Wolverhampton
by Anon
Right the halls at the University of Wolverhampton are quite atrocious. I lived in Randall Lines House which is basically the same as Lomas Street just with twice as many people sharing facilities designed for about 5 people (not 12).
So let me break down what I get:
1 x bedroom - looks smaller than a prison ... cell
1 x lockable cupboard - doesn't fit a dinner plate
2 x toilets - for 12 people, gets really disgusting because most
people living in halls are from overseas (v-messy)
1 x shower - this lonely shower has to accomodate 12 people!!
1 x bath tub - no one is there right mind would bath in these
tubs but some over seas students again decide
to use a bucket and shower in there I
guess they don't have to share it at least.
We also get a 5ft fridge and a 5ft freezer to share again between 12.... so you basically count on have your milk and eggs in the fridge and maybe some oven chips in the freezer because there's no chance your gonna have enough room for anything else. Residential services won't allow you to have your own personal mini fridge and because of their regular checks you can;t even sneak it in.
The residential services are kind enough to check your room once a semester so my advice it to put any and all faults with your room in the form they give you at the beginning of term because if you don't they'll find it and charge you for it even if you didn't do it!
They love taking your deposit if the fire alarms go off, which surely will, numerous times, anyone lucky enough to not be in halls at the time of it or anyone not living on the floor of the alrarm that got triggered, will still have to pay for it :D happy days! Their reason is, 'anyone can access any floor of the building so if no one comes forward you will all split the £250 fine for each fire alarm.'
This isn't the only example of stupidity. You share a kitchen (I never use it because it's so unclean) and at the end of term if someone vandalises it the fine is split between the 12 of you living in that section. We have a page in our 'Living in Halls' guide which quotes all the figures e.g. 'replacement of mattress = £65.00!!!!'
As with other reviews the mention of over seas students is important for any one considering this place, because the majority of students in halls are foreign! They don't like to socialise with any one but people who speak their home language and are generally not that friendly.
To anyone considering The Univeristy of Wolverhampton halls I strongly urge you to get a flat in city centre for a year instead of halls it might sound attractive with its included internet (which goes down nearly everyday because too many people download movies) and promiximity to campus (everything in wolverhmapton is next to each other seriously you don't need to drive/bus it anywhere) bu at the end of the day unless your desperate don't apply for them until they raise the standard because at the moment the place will just depress you. I am so glad to leave this dump you have no idea I love my new house just outside wolves!!
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