Exeter College is to spend £6.5 million on expanding Iffley Road accommodation for its graduate students. The College’s proposals to build the new student housing were passed on Wednesday by Oxford City Council’s Planning Authorities. As a result Exeter will be able to house its 106 graduate students in College-owned accommodation. Currently only 41 of Exeter’s graduate students live at Exeter House – the accommodation block on the Iffley Road site – as first years are given priority when allocating from the limited number of rooms. The new buildings will be completed by October 2009, and existing accommodation will undergo refurbishment, scheduled to be completed by 2010. The plans to extend and renovate existing accommodation have been welcomed by students. MCR President Sara Adams said, “College has been very open to feedback on what we, as graduates at Exeter College, want and what we think prospective students will be looking for in accommodation. Information on plans was released to the graduate community early in the planning stage, and since then our opinions have been listened to and considered. I think it’s important for Colleges to pay attention to their students’ opinions, and I feel Exeter is setting a good example here.”Another Exeter graduate student and former resident of Exeter House said that the College’s plans to redevelop accommodation are much needed. They said, “The new accommodation will benefit everyone as current graduate accommodation is absolutely terrible. Up until now, College has only been able to make superficial changes. I think it’s good that they’re taking action at last, it’s long overdue.”Exeter College Bursar Eric Bennett said, “We are building a new building of flats with a range of two to seven bedrooms. We also plan to build a lodge between the two existing Georgian buildings as at present there is no reception area. This will have a lounge and a common room where people can sit. There will also be another, quiet common room. “The only things being knocked down are the later add-ons to a Victorian schoolhouse of which at present all that is visible is the bell tower. The new building will be in the back garden of 235 Iffley Road, the house we’ve just bought, which is next-door to Exeter House.”Bennett denied that the plans, which were first conceived last summer, had been prompted by complaints about the standard of existing accommodation. He said, “The proposals were inspired by the fact that Exeter does not, at present, house enough of its graduates. We do not have any building space at the Turl Street site and so have undertaken to develop the Iffley Road location.”
by Sarah Fleming
Exeter to spend £6.5m on new graduate accommodation
