By Georgiana Scott, Deputy Editor
Freshers from the University of Bristol will temporarily live in a hotel for a minimum of four weeks as the building of their University accommodation is incomplete.
181 students set to move into Deans Street Works, a new Bristol University accommodation, have been informed they will be temporarily housed in a city centre hotel.
The University of Bristol informed students in an email this week that the building of their allocated accommodation was delayed due to Covid-19 and will therefore not be ready for the start of their tenancy.
The students are yet to be told which hotel they will be staying in, but have been reassured it will be in Bristol’s city centre and that breakfast, an evening meal and free wi-fi will be included.
The University stated they will ‘block book’ hotel rooms to ensure students will be able to remain in their ‘living circles’ – their social bubbles for the year – and that they ‘expect students to maintain social distancing from people outside their circles during their hotel stay’.
A spokesperson from Bristol University told Epigram: ‘We appreciate this situation is far from ideal and are very sorry for the inconvenience and disruption caused.
‘The work to Dean Street Works has unavoidably been delayed due to the impact of COVID-19.
‘During the summer, the developers were hopeful the building would be completed on time but this week they confirmed that would not be possible and we were looking at an approximate four-week delay.
‘We contacted students due to move into the accommodation as soon as we were made aware of this and offered them the option of moving into another residence, which some students have decided to do.
‘For those that wish to stick to their allocation at Dean Street, students can study remotely from home until the residence is ready (in this case rent would only become payable once the accommodation is ready to move into) or the university will house them temporarily in a city centre hotel.
‘Whichever option they choose, students would still have full access to the range of virtual welcome events and pastoral support available to all students in University-allocated accommodation.’
Featured Image: Patrick Sullivan / Epigram
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