Uni gives assurance to residents at SARG on campus scheme

RESIDENTS have been reassured by Loughborough University that the student accommodation, that is set to be built on campus, will not result in an increase of students.

Vice chancellor of Loughborough University Professor Robert Allison told residents at a SARG (Storer and Ashby Road Residents’ Group) meeting on Tuesday, May 23 that the planned on-campus halls of residence will not boost student numbers.

He said: “We’re about to build new halls of residence with over 600 rooms, but we’re not expanding the number of students.

“There’s no plan for the campus to grow the student number. We had over 46,000 applications last year, the biggest number the university has ever had. We’ll increase the quality of student, not the quantity.”

Prof Allison also said existing halls are to be refurbished.

He said: “The new accommodation should withdraw student houses from the community.

“If all goes according to plan, it should be completed in September 2019.

“We have another challenge though. For those of you who have walked through the student village you will have seen that some are very tired and run down.

“If we’re not careful students will not want to live in those ones and go to locations in town that have been vacated because of the new halls.

“Once we have finished the 600 rooms, we’re to go through the process of refurbishing the [existing] halls to make them as attractive as the other accommodation.”

The meeting was also told a number of projects at the west end of the campus are to be relocated over the summer to make way for the new accommodation.