MEMORANDUM
To:
Members of USUCON
From:
Director of Residential Services
Date:
18th January 2010
Re:
Room Allocation and Accommodation Charges 2010/11
Attached are papers relating to the allocation of rooms for the next academic
year and the rent options.
Members of USUCON are invited to comment on the following:



The proposed room allocation shown on the two spreadsheets
The proposed increase in rent
The proposed programme of LTM refurbishment
Room Allocation
There are two spreadsheets relating to the planned allocation of rooms at the
Colchester campus, one for postgraduate students and one undergraduate.
The Admissions Office has confirmed that the recruitment situation will be
broadly in line with the 2009 intake.
A small number of rooms are being held for Colchester Institute at University
Quays.
There continues to be a shortfall in rooms in order to be able to meet with
accommodation guarantees so 280 rooms have been contracted at Avon
Way and Forest Road House.
It is therefore not possible to hold a ballot for final year students again this
year and this will not now be possible again until more accommodation has
been built. It is still proposed to offer accommodation to returning year abroad
students.
The residences allocated to postgraduate students for 2009 will be Rayleigh
Tower, two of the Houses and rooms at the Quays as well as the leased
properties on Greenstead.
1
Accommodation Charges
The University Steering Group agreed rent increases for 2010-11 in January
2010. These range from 2.5% for The Towers, 2.75% for University Quays
and The Houses and 7.1% for South Courts. The average increase is 4.43%.
The following information outlines the situation regarding the accommodation
budget and sets the general context of the rent increase. The proposed uplift
for South Courts reflects both its popularity and a comparison with similar
facilities provided by competitor universities.
Accommodation Essex is facing a period of extensive change with the
expansion of accommodation provision both in Colchester and Southend and
the need to upgrade existing accommodation. It is essential to generate
sufficient income to prepare for and sustain these developments.
The procurement of the Meadows in Colchester has commenced although is
still at very early stages. The University is itself funding the site infrastructure
work (around £1.5m) to enable a developer to proceed with a new student
accommodation development. It is essential to take a longer term view on
levels of rent in order to procure residential development that offers all of the
facilities that we require to meet with students’ expectations and to offer a
high quality residential experience.
Acommodation Budget
A forecast budget has been prepared outlining key areas of change for
income and expenditure.
There are significant changes to the accommodation stock with the opening
of University Square in Southend. In addition, the number of rooms
contracted from private providers at Forest Road and Avon Way House will
increase in order to meet with accommodation guarantees. These changes
will make demands on the accommodation budget. It is unlikely that the
occupancy rate of 85% will be achieved in Southend and any assistance
officers can provide to promote the residence will be appreciated. A
contingency is therefore essential in anticipation of that outcome.
The off campus leases have to match the normal letting conditions for the
private operators so the leases are for 11 months. Whilst it may be possible
to allocate as many postgraduate students as possible to those locations this
in itself reduces the income for university owned sites as more of the lets will
be for 39 rather than 50 weeks.
Investment in Long Term Maintenance is budgeted to rise by 12.4% and this
is essential to maintain a good standard of refurbishment in the residences in
line with the 20 year plan. A separate spreadsheet of works planned for
2010/11 is attached and the proposed budget for refurbishment is
£1,548,015, equivalent to 12.7% of turnover.
2
The hard winter has seen a rise in energy usage and, whilst this may be a
one off, the budget for 2010/11 must allow for greater usage than in previous
years. It is anticipated that water costs will rise by 9%.
In terms of staff pay, the Government has already announced that employer’s
national insurance will rise by 1% from April 2011 which will be on top of the
August 2010 pay award and increments.
The University distributes the cost of professional services, infrastructure
costs and general overheads across the budgets of faculties and sections
including Accommodation Essex. These distributed costs are called the FEC
(Full Economic Cost) charge in the budgetary process. For Accommodation
Essex the FEC charge is budgeted to rise by 15% in 2010/11. Year on year it
is budgeted to rise by 8% and a significant proportion of the remainder relates
to the pensions deficit.
Although funded principally from changes in cleaning frequencies, further
changes are being proposed to the Residents’ Support Network. An additional
27 funded places are being made available to begin the process of enhancing
the role of Residents’ Assistants (RAs) to promote more social activities and
engagement with students. Additionally the Nightline Committee will also be
offered the same rent subsidy as RAs due to their involvement in supporting
residents and I am willing to open negotiations for a similar subsidy to be
applied to sabbatical officers who will be supporting the new look Residents’
Support Network.
3
Rents
The following table shows the proposed weekly rent for 2010 and the rents for
the previous five years with the average rent increase for each of these years.
The aim in 2010/11 is to raise rents by the lowest amount for the lower cost
accommodation to protect students on lower incomes and to introduce a
higher increase at South Courts where demand is very strong.
Table 1
Rents 2005/06 - 2010/11
2005-06 2006-07
6.07%
8.0%
2007-08
4.88%
2008-09
4.46%
2009-10
2.91%
2010-11
4.43%*
Average rent
increase
South
£52.50
£56.70
£58.87
£61.46
£63.21
£64.79
Towers
North
£53.83
£58.10
£61.81
£64.54
£66.43
£68.09
Towers A
North
£61.32
£64.05
£65.87
£67.52
Towers B
Wolfson
£57.75
£62.37
£65.73
£68.67
£70.83
£72.40
Court
South Courts £78.68
£86.52
£91.07
£95.13
£97.93 £104.99
The Houses
£77.77
£84.00
£88.41
£92.40
£95.06
£97.67
Uni Quays
£78.68
£82.60
£86.94
£90.86
£93.52
£96.09
Southend en
suite
£99.89
£102.83 £109.85
* 2.5% in Towers/Wolfson Court, 2.75% in Houses and Quays, 7.1 % in
South Courts
If members of USUCON would like to apply the increase to achieve different
differentials then this can be worked on subsequently.
Comparator Rents
The following universities have been selected for benchmarking purposes
year on year as direct competitors. The table shows that most of the rent
increases in the current year are higher than at Essex. No information is
available in relation to the next academic year.
The table shows that Essex continues to set rents that offer students
reasonably priced accommodation when compared to the universities shown
in this table.
4
Table 2. Comparator Rents 2009-10
Per Week
Min Std
Max Std
Min E/S
Max E/S
Per Annum
Min UG rent
Max UG rent
Min PG rent
Max PG rent
Min Std
Percentage Inc
Max Std
Percentage Inc
Min En Suite Inc
Max En Suite Inc
Essex
Kent
Surrey
Soton
UEA
Exeter
63.21
66.43
93.52
97.93
89.39
98.00
114.45
128.10
73.90
81.90
100.70
123.40
71.40
71.40
101.85
114.80
60.20
75.25
85.40
95.55
69.86
84.63
99.00
112.91
2465.19
3819.27
3293.50
4753.00
3486.21
4995.90
4494.45
4905.99
2808.20
4689.20
4176.90
6293.40
2784.60
4477.20
3641.40
5854.80
2287.60
3630.90
3010.00
4777.50
2794.40
4968.04
3562.86
5758.41
2.85%
7.70%
21.15%
9.09%
4.24%
8.48%
2.93%
2.93%
2.94%
11.36%
5.00%
5.00%
-4.77%
-4.10%
17.52%
9.09%
2.83%
5.13%
5.60%
5.08%
2.50%
-0.25%
1.24%
8.47%
Ms Vivien Insull
Director of Residential Services
25th January 2010
5
6