Design standards for student accommodation

plodder

This surprises me. Shared kitchens and living areas do sound like the way to create a more sociable experience, but a greater reliance on shared bathrooms and twin rooms? And they say this was done in consultation with students? Shared bathrooms in B&Bs and cheap hotels used to be a thing decades ago, but not any more. Twin rooms are fine when the "couple" know each other well, but do students not deserve some privacy, for reading and actual studying?

It looks a lot more like doing things on the cheap to me.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/more-shared-bathrooms-in-student-accommodation-under-new-design-guide-going-to-cabinet/a328688735.html

Allinall

They're students. They all sleep together anyway. This is just allowing it through building regulations.

Shared bathrooms in hotels and B & Bs years ago never did anyone any harm.

scrabtom

Shared bedrooms are a good option for college students, especially for first and second years. Not for everyone but plenty including me would be happy with it (I shared for two years when I was in college not that long ago).

Expecting your own personal bathroom as a college student is a bit ridiculous to be honest.

Kimiko 75

Surely everybody shared when they were young, students or on small wages? Everyone did when I was young and it wasn't an issue. Why wouldn't students share? We have gone so over the top babying young people in this country, we are producing a generation that cannot deal with anything they see as 'hardship'

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123574681#Comment_123574681

Interesting. I guess if that's what people want then the option should be available. I always found the room sharing thing a very "American" idea. The discussion below suggests that it was originally a cost saving move there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/college/comments/ehmapz/what_started_the_american_college_tradition_of/

Peregrinus

In US universities, twin (or more!) rooms and shared bathrooms are standard in university accommodation for undergraduates. Graduate students are more likely to get their own rooms.

In UK universities, twin rooms and shared bathrooms are fairly common in older halls of residence; newer halls tend to be single en-suite rooms. Oxbridge colleges mostly provide single rooms, shared bathrooms.

Single rooms, shared bathrooms is pretty standard in German universities, but many halls of residence provided by the Studierendenwerk (state-run student services organisations) have shared rooms as well as shared bathrooms. The Studierendenwerk halls are actually the most popular option, despite the shared rooms, because they are heavily subsidised.

So it doesn't sound as though the Irish guidelines are going to result in accommodation which is wildly out of line with what is common in student accommodation elsewhere.

the_amazing_raisin

In my student accommodation each room was a single with a small en-suite, storage and a desk

It wored fine, wasn't the most spacious but you had privacy, a quiet place to study (yes, some student to actually work) and you weren't breathing in someone else's farts all night

The kitchen and living rooms were shared among 3 to 5 rooms. Often you'd walk in and someone's dishes would be piled up in the sink from 3 days ago and the place is a mess

Not sure I'd be too happy sharing a bathroom in that environment, probably walk in a find a dump still in the toilet

There's a reason you can look on Amazon around September and find a load of mini air fryers and compact laundry/cleaning gadgets for students so they can avoid using the shared facilities

I love how the idea to solve the student accommodation problem (or housing crisis in general) is to make living standards substantially worse

It isn't like there's any better ideas like a state owned construction company, subsidised loans for house construction or house price inflation caps...

But no, let's watch the zombie government lurch onwards as it tries to appear to be solving the problem without doing anything useful

Kimiko 75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123574760#Comment_123574760

You do realise that adults sharing house share accomodation have to use shared kitchens and bathrooms also, these are normal life issues that people should be capable of dealing with.

How is building shared student accomodation making living standards worse? Does every child in the country believe they should have their own accomodation nowadays? Most of us grew up sharing with multiple siblings in one bedroom, likewise sharing accomodation with friends and strangers for years. I don't understand how anyone can have issues with this.

plodder

My OH spent a year in a German university in the 80's. It was an interesting introduction to the culture there, where for example you would be chided for switching on a cooker ring other than the one that was last used .. So, maybe sharing works best in such well regulated cultures. Though, I definitely agree the experience should be to some extent here too, with some common areas/faciltities. I suppose if asked to prioritise, my preference back in the day would have been for a private sleeping area with a desk, and everything else shared. But if some students maybe away from home for the first time, need the reassurance of a roommate, then that should be accommodated too.

On the point above, it seems like there is a difference between house sharing where you get to interview/screen any new person coming in, and room sharing in college which could be with a complete stranger and most house shares would be "own bedroom" usually.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123575143#Comment_123575143

On the point above, it seems like there is a difference between house sharing where you get to interview/screen any new person coming in, and room sharing in college which could be with a complete stranger and most house shares would be "own bedroom" usually.

Lots of shared houses/apartments have shared rooms these days. Two bunk beds in a room isn't terribly unusual. I know of some people who even share a bed, as in they work different shifts so sleep in the bed different hours!

I'm not justifying any of that, but it is just what some working people have to do to get by and afford rent in Dublin. And these are people working! By comparison the student accommodation sounds nice!

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123575110#Comment_123575110

Given the choice today, would you prefer to share a room with someone?

I agree that house sharing is an act of diplomacy, and can be a way of making good friends as well as ruining some relationships

But I don't think it's unreasonable for young adults to a private space of their own. Knocking one out with an audience gets old pretty quickly unless you're into it

I also don't think this will lead to any reduction in rents. Instead of €1k a month for a single bedroom it'll be €1k a month for a shared room

I know people who have shared rooms in the past and they only did it to save money, the second they could afford it they got their own rooms

Kimiko 75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123576170#Comment_123576170

Given that I'm middle aged, I haven't a notion of sharing with anyone, but I can afford not to, thank god. I don't think there's anything wrong with expecting students or low paid young adults to share.

Jim Cryton

I know this is a radical thought but why don't we simply look at the design standards in our nearby comparable countries like UK, US, Germany and France and match those? Why do the Irish need something unique - and inevitably more costly. Are we a special people?

jackofalltrades

Sharing a bedroom with a complete stranger is a load of bollix. No privacy, no space to yourself and possibly no peace to study.

Small single occupancy bedrooms with a basic en-suite is the way to go. Have communal showers if that's a push.

If affordable en-campus accommodation was the norm when universities were being built, then there'd be no need for cost cutting plans like this during a housing crisis.

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123577131#Comment_123577131

Even if there had been University accommodation when universities were built, there are many more students now.

bk

Funnily enough traditional University accommodation in UK/Ireland was 20 or 30 beds shared in a large room! Think like the dorms you'd see in Full Metal Jacket or old movies about College life.

I'm not saying that would be acceptable any more, but I do find people have pretty wild rose tinted glasses view of what accommodation was like in the not too distant past.

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123577131#Comment_123577131

I get the cost argument. Putting sanitation in every room complicates the design and adds to cost, but when it comes to sleeping space, you can literally divide it in two with a partition and put two separate doors into it. Aside from people who do want to share, the only argument against that seems to be: I suffered as a student. So today's snowflakes need to harden up and accept it too. It's complete bullshit.

salmocab

I worked about 9 years ago building a student accommodation. All single occupancy bedrooms bar I think one twin oddly, they were in ‘apartments’ of 2-6 beds.
my understanding was the price was higher the lower the number of beds.
each apartment had a common living kitchen dining room.
they were nice units but I remember thinking the prices were expensive.
the en-suites were all identical, made off site and craned in as a finished unit with just electrical and plumbing connections to be made at the back.
not sure about standards but these were nice.
then there was some common areas below for games and clothes washing etc

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123576170#Comment_123576170

Given the choice everyone would opt for a king size bed with en suite and a nice view - of course cost should come into it.

It absolutely will save cost, in the past student accommodation in Ireland did have sharing twin rooms and they were always the cheapest options. On campus accommodation in Galway has apartments with 5 people sharing 1 bathroom 1 kitchen, 1 twin 2 singles 1 double.

Twins are cheapest and also lowest area footprint overall.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123576825#Comment_123576825

on campus college accommodation across Europe uses twin sharing rooms. Not exclusively, and this wont be the case here either, but definitely as a means to increase density and decrease cost.

Peregrinus

And, in the US at least, also because of a belief that sharing rooms is good for students — they learn how to accomodate one another, how to co-operate, how to negotiate differences, etc. They see developing social and relationship skills like this as part of their educational mission. (Also for this reason, it's common for US universities to require students to live in university accommodation, at least in their first year.)

Geuze

Shared bedrooms = NO.

Shared bathrooms = YES.