Accommodation at Essex

Yes! If you are thinking about moving onto campus, either now, later in the term or even in January, you can still apply for accommodation now via our waiting list. Once you have accepted your offer, your room and key will remain available until you are ready to arrive and we will not charge you for your room until you have moved in.

All full-time fully-registered undergraduate students living at our Colchester or Southend Campus from October, are entitled to accommodation for the first year of study.

The accommodation guarantee deadline has now passed, so we can no longer guarantee you accommodation for your first year, but you can still apply. If we can’t offer you campus accommodation then we’ll put you in touch with SU Homes, an agency run by our Students’ Union.

If you are a new student and your course does not officially start until January, then you are guaranteed accommodation via our January applications process as long as you apply by the 29 November 2020 deadline. 

Please note, we do not have student accommodation at our Loughton Campus.

We understand that a number of you are planning to study remotely at first and then arrive onto one of our campuses later this term or in January.

So that we can be as flexible as possible, we have reviewed your accommodation contract, which means that:

• If you are planning on joining us us at the beginning of October, your room is ready and keys are available for collection
• If you are planning to arrive on campus later in the term, this is fine and you will not be charged until your collect your key and move in
• If you have accepted a room for October but now intend on joining us in January instead, we will hold your room for you and you will not be charged rent until January. Please also keep an eye on your emails, as a member of Accommodation Essex will contact you in December to confirm your arrival plans

Whenever you intend to arrive, please make sure you sure you are familiar with where you need to collect your key by checking our arrival information for Colchester  or Southend.

If you decide you no longer want your campus accommodation, then please email accarriv@essex.ac.uk and we will cancel it.

If you are travelling to campus from outside of the UK you can quarantine for 14 days on your arrival (either because you are arriving from a country where quarantine on arrival in the UK is required, or because you either wish to self-isolate on arrival as an extra precaution or have concerns your country may be placed on the UK quarantine list between now and the beginning of the academic term).

For a full list of countries which currently require quarantine on arrival please visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors

The countries on this list are subject to change.

You will be living with other students, where some facilities will be shared, so please make sure you try and use these, when others are not.

To help you settle in and so you do not have to leave your accommodation unnecessarily, we will provide you with a quarantine pack (food/bedding/kitchen) upon arrival, which you can collect as per the the instructions in the leaflet that we have put with your accommodation key. Please then make sure you read the guidance on self-isolating, so you are aware of what support services are available to you, including how to order food deliveries. However, if you do have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Student Information Team. 

The University has been working hard to ensure that your course can be delivered as flexibly as possible, and our accommodation offer has been designed to reflect this.

Therefore, the accommodation team will release students from their tenancy, or pause rental payments, if students are required by their government, the UK government or the University to leave their University accommodation due to matters relating to COVID-19.

If you live in University accommodation and need to self-isolate due to COVID-19, appropriate arrangements will be made by our dedicated Residence Life team to provide you with advice and practical support. Information regarding how to self-isolate, who to inform and how we can further support you will be made available for you, with further information in your Welcome Book.  

We’re hoping to make your experience of living with us as normal as possible, but recognise we may have to do things a little differently this year.  

On arrival into your accommodation, we expect you will form a social bubble with students in your flat (who are staying in the rooms around you). This means that you’ll be able to spend time with your flatmates without the need for keeping socially distanced from each other.  

Current guidance states that, at least initially, you won’t be able to have other people from outside your household visiting your flat. But all our accommodation is surrounded by award winning green spaces, and with social facilities close by where you can easily meet with people from outside your household whilst following the social distancing guidelines.  

We also have a dedicated team who are developing a variety of social distancing events and virtual events to attend to make sure you have every opportunity to meet new people, safely. More details of these will follow in due course.

Our housekeeping team will be busy undertaking enhanced cleaning, to ensure your accommodation is as hygienic as possible. All kitchens will be cleaned weekly, and shared bathrooms cleaned 3 times a week. We will be regularly cleaning all high level touchpoints in accommodation entrances and communal areas. We will also clean all lifts daily (the maximum number of people per lift will be limited to help maintain social distancing).

Hygiene is a key factor in controlling the virus, therefore it is important that all residents play their part in ensuring your accommodation remains safe. To help with this, we will also provide you with how-to guides and advice on hygiene. 

The University takes the health and wellbeing of our students and staff very seriously and this has been one of the focuses to ensure students can start on campus – safely – in October.

To protect our community on campus once the academic year starts again in October, we will be looking to introduce the following measures:

• Enhanced cleaning and sterilising regimes
• Social distancing in line with international guidance
• Signage and floor markings in key locations to help you move around our campuses safely

We’re asking you to wear face coverings in all public campus areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain or in specifically designated locations. We’ll be supporting you by giving two washable face coverings to all students and staff.

We’ll also be introducing training for all students, to make it easier for everyone to understand our expectations.