PREVIEW Tom Hanks is back in the film of the Autumn: 'FonestGump'...
Concrete survey shows that 'hundreds' of Village residents have moans about their flats HUNDREDS of students living in the new£11 million University Village development have complaints about the supposedly top-spec accommodation. By
52 percent ofstudents say their rooms here are not worth £44.25 plw
••• THEY'RE EVEN LOOKING FOR A RENT CUT A GROUP of residents at University Village are to apply for a rent reduction - just one week after moving into the showpiece development. For some licencees are concerned about paying the same rent as students living in en-suite campus accommodation, but for rooms that are considerably smaller. And many residents believe a
more realistic price for rooms at University ViDage would be somewhere between that charged at Waveney and Constable Terraces. This was UEA's original intention, but it seems that the costs of the development forced rent levels up whilst reducing the sizes of the rooms from the original scheme. But Jennifer Grant, Director of Residences, believes that compar-
ing University Village with on-site residences is too extreme. "There are some differences, but at the end of the day they all supply basically the same accommodation•, she said. Yet en-suite study bedrooms at University Village lack basic items such as desk-lamps and the rooms themselves are a lot smaller than Nelson Court and Constable Terrace.
The bathrooms are also not as spacious as those on campus and have been dubbed by some students as virtual 'porta-loos'. Said Bob Scott, a third year, "Unpacking was comparable to holding a barn dance in a telephone box." Another resident remarked, "The rooms are so small that you can s**t, shower and shave all at the same time whilst watching TV. •
An exclusive Concrete survey carried out earlier this week reveals an alarming catalogue of building bodges, and shows that 92 percent of residents think there Is a need for a 'communal area' or bar. An irate 52 percent say the flats, designed in conjunction with marine engineers, are not worth the staggering £44.25 p/w rent. Possibly hundreds of students have been left with shower floors which slope away from the plughole, causing floods in their bathrooms. A site worker told Concrete that around 300 floors have been wrongly-fitted into the bathroom pods, something which newly-appointed Residences Director, Jennifer Grant, was unable to confirm. The £35,000 a-year boss said, "I haven't been here very long so I don't know all the details, but it's more like 30 students who are affected." This week Concrete has also un-
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Michele du Randt
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covered dozens of other beefs from residents who are unhappy with the situation at the supposedly topspec flats. Their complaints include: •Kitchen windows that do not open more than a few centimetres unless students unscrew the sink's mixertap from its fitting, • Phones that don't work in the flats, •Being woken by building noises at the crack of dawn, • Kitchens which don't contain irons, toasters, or ovens - and the food cupboards aren't lockable, •A brand-new launderette which contained washing machines witho.ut plugs, which 9nly took American currency. Angry third year, Ben Rolfe, said, "It's disgusting. I think it's outrageous to charge us nearly £45 a week when nothing works, or isn't there in the first place! Even all
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