A crumbling staircase in one UCL hall forced the emergency evacuation of residents last month to make way for “critical emergency work”.
Arthur Tattersall residents received an email in February telling them to evacuate with immediate effect due to due to “critical emergency work required on the staircase”.
Residents say they were asked to use the crumbling staircase “one at a time” to collect their belongings and were only allowed to collect “essential” items before being relocated to Ramsay Hall for 11 days.
The evacuation coincided with a broken front door lock at Arthur Tattersall House, which had been missing for a full week due to “delays” with the replacement, residents were told. UCL Security remains stationed behind the door in the interim.
UCL Accommodation has pledged to reimburse the cost of travel to and from Ramsay Hall to move essential items but there has so far been no indication of further compensation, The Cheese Grater understands.
Ben Scanlan, UCL Students’ Union Accommodation & Housing Officer, commented “the issues we are seeing at Arthur Tattersall are, like so many of the other problems at UCL Accommodation, a product of poor quality maintenance and penny-pinching by UCL.
“Students in UCL halls are paying ridiculous sums of money for buildings with inadequate service and crumbling infrastructure.
“UCL needs to provide the accommodation department with more funding, freeze rents, and stop treating students like cash cows.”
The Cheese Grater has reached out to the Accommodation Office for comment.
