St Mary's, Newcastle

EDIT: THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN I 2020 ABOUT THE ACCOMMODATION WHEN OWNED BY NEWCASTLE UNI. It's a lovely place. Each room contains a bed with matrass and a drawer underneath the bed, 3 bookshelves above the bed, a big closet which requires hangers, three drawer units (one with 4 broad drawers, one with 3 small drawers and a bedside unit with 2 drawers), a desk and a (very uncomfortable) chair. It also has a desk lamp, a very bright ceiling lamp, a mirror with a lamp right above it and a sink underneath it, with a hot and cold water tap. It also contains a trashcan. As far as I know, every room has a window with curtains, and every room has a heater attached to the wall. The window can be opened, but not very far. The rooms have carpet. You need to bring your own bedding and pillow, your own hangers etc. The rooms can get pretty cold but you can request an extra heater. Mine was delivered to my room within ten minutes of requesting it! The staff is incredibly quick with repairs, and they do not charge extra costs. During my stay here the toaster, the shower, the cooker and one of the lamps broke, and all were fixed within twelve hours or less. Each flat contains 5 bedrooms of different sizes (all the same price, you can just happen to be lucky and get a bigger one), two showers and two toilets. I have had no trouble with hot water, there always seems to be enough even if you take a shower directly after one of your flatmates did. It has one big kitchen which includes the living area. There are enough cupboards for all, and there are two big fridges and freezers. There is an oven, electric cooker, a toaster, a kettle and a microwave. There's also a storage room with vacuum cleaners, an ironing board and a mop. I stayed in one of the newly refurbished flats, for which i am very grateful. From what I've seen the non-refurbished living quarters offer much worse living conditions. The common areas in the flats are cleaned once a week (for my flat it's every Tuesday) by a very competent staff. The fire alarm is tested every Wednesday at 15.00, and although in the beginning of the year there were a LOT of late-night false alarms where we had to wait outside in the cold for half an hour or more, we haven't had any in the past two months. The walls are very thin, so you can hear your neighbours pretty clearly. However, if there really is too much noise at night security will quickly solve that problem. The security in general is very good, they keep a proper eye on the property to make sure no intruders enter the student flats to steal any valuables. This accommodation is relatively far away from the centre of the city, but you do get a free bus pass that allows you to travel with public transport from and to certain stops. The busses aren't that trustworthy though, so I would recommend buying a bike, but that might just be the Dutchie in me talking. Bikes can be stalled in an internal courtyard which can only be accessed by residents. There are only 6 washers and 6 dryers, in one single laundry room. This means that for some accommodations you have to walk quite a distance if you want to do some washing. You need to install the Circuit app, which requires PayPal / a credit card. Washing is 1.10 and drying is 1.10. Even though there are so little machines, I have not had much trouble with waiting times. Reception is open from 9-12 every weekday. The employees are incredibly lovely and supportive. You can install the Newcastle University Accomm. App (available in Google play store and probably also for Apple products but I wouldn't know) to request repairs. As previously mentioned, repairs are handled incredibly quickly. I had my window frames repaired because it was getting very drafty and the repairmen were very professional and quick. They made sure to protect my belongings from the dust offered to vacuum clean after they were done! Even though this accommodation is the cheapest one it is still a lot of money, but it's not expensive. You really get value for the money you pay with the amazing staff and quick repairs.