Exeter students to move into Cohen Quadrangle in January
Eighty-six Exeter students will move into brand new College accommodation in January 2017. Cohen Quadrangle will welcome its first students at the start of Hilary Term. This new building will provide students with affordable accommodation in the heart of Oxford while easing the burden on Oxford’s private rental market.
Cohen Quadrangle, located on Walton Street, will provide Exeter students and research and teaching fellows with state-of-the-art facilities on a stunning new campus. Every student will have an en-suite study-bedroom. The campus will also benefit from a cafe, teaching rooms, an auditorium for concerts, theatre productions and lectures, social and study spaces, a reading room, and purpose-built facilities for the College’s special collections such as rare books, manuscripts and archives.
Students visiting Cohen Quadrangle in October 2016
The original aim was that the 86 students plus staff and fellows would move into Cohen Quadrangle in October 2016, at the start of Michaelmas Term. The site is constrained and the building and construction process very complex, and construction has taken longer than anticipated. Students are therefore currently being housed at Jury’s Inn, a hotel in north Oxford, which provides a supportive environment for them, with College staff on site every day, a common room established for the students, and free bus passes provided to assist with transport. Some students have recently been able to move into accommodation provided by other colleges, nearer to the centre of Oxford.
The support of students – their academic and welfare needs – have been the College’s priorities throughout this period. To avoid unnecessary additional disruption, the students will continue to stay in either Jury’s Inn or their alternative student accommodation for the remainder of Michaelmas Term. They will move into their new accommodation at Cohen Quadrangle after the Christmas vacation, for the start of Hilary Term.
In October a group of students visited Cohen Quadrangle, all of whom will move into the accommodation in January. They were impressed with the building and they all remain excited to be living there next term and making use of the exceptional facilities that Cohen Quadrangle offers. In the meantime, we’re providing support for all of our students and work continues on site apace.
Exeter JCR President Harry Williams, who is personally affected by the delays, commented, “Of course I was disappointed to hear that the development would not be completed on time, but I am pleased with the way the college have handled the situation so far.”
Exeter third year Flora Hudson, who will also move to Cohen Quadrangle once work there is complete, commented, “I think college have done the best they could with a bad situation – everyone seems pretty happy with the arrangement.”
