Founder's

This accommodation made me feel extremely safe as a young adult. Having moved away from home into a different area of the country, it was difficult at first. However this accommodation provides halls of residence comparable to no other. It does not feel like you are staying at a hotel as the corridors are long and wide allowing you to make several friends across your corridor in comparison to modern accommodations where you have a maximum of 6 rooms in your area. With access coded doors and 24/7 security, the accommodation felt very safe. In addition, the health centre is within the same building only a short few minutes walk. You can get there using internal corridors and lifts. This accommodation also offers a catered service. This was one of the most attractive factors as just moving out of your family home can be daunting enough, but having to cook for yourself and plan your meals in order to have a healthy lifestyle can be difficult and stressful. Founders provides you with a grand dining hall with their food ranging from lasagne to a fresh salad bar. Students living there get 50% off the entire bill. This allowed me to have a balanced diet whilst at uni.

It's really sociable and that's nice but the food is catered and disgusting. There's a pantry instead of a kitchen which means there's less space to hang around and make friends with. However, room parties happen often and they're usually really sociable and welcoming.

700 people under one roof is a recipe for disaster. Not only do none of the doors in between corridors lock but the bathrooms were never clean, the building itself fluctuated enormously in temperature and the 30 week contract and limited storage room in the building combined with the move out time before 10am meant living in Founders was both stressful and unsafe. I had a bad experience with someone else in my halls and they were able to sit outside my door and harass me whatever time of day. Founders security and welfare team were unable to deal with the problem sufficiently.

Whilst all Founder’s rooms were spacious and structured so that the hallways were social centres, there were many issues with the heating, fire alarms and security. Throughout the year, fire alarms were set off throughout both day and night, at random, and it appeared that no one was reprimanded for pranks or jokes regarding this matter. Also, in the winter months, the hot water and heating fluctuated, making it difficult to shower, or indeed sleep comfortably, without freezing! In terms of security, there were issues with locked doors. At night after a certain time, all doors around the Founder’s building, including partition doors between hallways and exit/entrances, were to be closed and locked by Founder’s security. This was supposed to ensure that no one could enter the building at night for security. However, on numerous occassions I found that I did not need to use my key card to access the partition doors, as the locks were broken, and the exit/entrance doors on the ground floor were constantly left unlocked at all hours of the night. This was incredibly concerning for my safety and comfort among others, and what I was most concerned over was the security team’s ability to access any student room, even without their permission. This is quite a breach of privacy and security. Whilst there were issues with Founder’s, I also enjoyed my experience as a resident thoroughly, making many friends almost daily along the halls. What I would recommend is the refurbishment of the pantry set-up. Whilst I understand that catered students have access to the food dining hall, I think it would benefit them to have a larger private kitchen area that does not get so easily cramped. The toilet facilities were, most of the time, incredibly clean and functional. The building itself is, by far the most attractive and beautiful of all other accommodation options, and I would highly recommend visiting even if it is not your place of residence for first year.

Okay, yet old and lacked the modern look at other Unis...................................................................................................

Very social layout. Amazing scenery and beautiful architecture. Food is very good at the Dining Hall. The rooms are always warm if you have the radiator on, even in Winter. The room are aesthetically pleasing and not cheap to look at. The location is perfect for all of my lectures.

I think this was the best accommodation on campus!! It doesn’t have a fancy Ensuite or kitchen, but the vibes are so fab and you meet so many cool people. Plus you basically live in a castle so that makes you a prince/princess ??

Fantastic views of both the quad and the grounds from the bedrooms. Wonderful architecture. Cons: single beds, shared kitchenette, still have to pay for meals in the canteen, always roasting hot, and shared bathrooms. The shared bathroom and kitchette was as advertised, but sharing with messy people is always hard.

Fantastic location - right in the middle of campus and close to all departments. Unique experience of living in a Victorian castle (but thankfully with new furniture etc so the things that matter aren’t out of bed. Having a single bed may be a down point but at the end of the day you get more space in your room so it’s not all doom and gloom. The social experience is hit and miss - if your corridor mates are cool you’re in for a great year. But on the bright side if they aren’t your closest friends you’re in for a smooth year because no chance of falling out and having awkwardness on the corridor. 5th floor rooms in a standard size are nowhere near as nice. All in all I’m so glad I went for the halls. Sharing toilets was nowhere near as bad as expected because they are cleaned regularly.

Rooms are quite spacious with tall ceilings and big windows however furniture provided is very antique and very dim lighting. Not modern as compared to other halls in the university.