A campaign launched last month opposes the University of Manchester’s Fallowfield redevelopment plans – citing inaccessibility for lower-income and disabled students.
Approved in January last year, the University’s £400m development project will knock down Owen’s Park, Oak House, Woolton Hall, and Squirrels Bar in the Fallowfield campus and replace them with accommodation priced up to £235 a week, leading to opposition from student societies.
During an open meeting in December 2024, the UoM’s Director of Residential and Sports Services Vicky Ackerley revealed a partnership with private property development company Viridis – but students raised questions about steep prices and only 21 disabled access rooms out of 3,300 available beds.
Chair of Manchester Students Renters Union and member of Fight the Rent Hike Jason Lee said: “Even if students never ate again they could not afford to pay £235 a week without being employed as it would cost 107% of maximum student loan.
“Working on top of a full-time degree should be a choice people make rather than something forced upon them.”
The three demands of Fight the Rent Hike are: 40% of rooms in every development to meet the National Union of Students (NUS) definition of affordability, 5% of rooms in every development to be fully accessible, and rent stabilisation measures to be put in place.
NUS affordability is rent at no more than 50% of the maximum student maintenance loan – around £127 a week.
Currently, the only University of Manchester halls falling below this limit are Whitworth Park (£118 a week) and Oak House (£113 a week).
A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “National inflationary pressures on rents vary in degree but have been largely consistent over the years since 2004 when incorporating wages, energy costs, construction costs and contribution to central services.
“Rent prices for the Fallowfield redevelopment have not yet been confirmed but at current calculations no rooms will be above £235 at today’s prices – for clarification these would be premium rooms.
“No new rooms could be built for the ‘NUS definition’ as constructions costs are just too high.”
Jason, a master’s student in history, said: “After the Fallowfield redevelopment, Whitworth Park will become the most affordable accommodation, but the buildings do not have accessible entrances or bathrooms.”
Fight the Rent Hike alleged they heard from many students who had accessibility requirements yet the University of Manchester did not have adapted rooms available.
A university spokesperson said that there are 53 adapted or accessible rooms at the University of Manchester, and residents with a disability-related fee adjustment are charged the lowest fee in the portfolio. Any additional adaptations are funded to meet the needs of disabled students.
Fight the Rent Hike member Eva* said students want transparency regarding the Fallowfield redevelopment project’s accessible adaptations but she feels she is “shooting in the dark as the University will not engage”.
The university, however, disagrees, pointing out that students’ union officers have been involved in the process and in planning new residences, and that there are three further workshops this academic year to develop a long-term rent affordability strategy for university-managed accommodation.
In 2024-25, the University Accommodation Office reported receiving 13 applications from wheelchair users, with nine people eventually moving into residences.
A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The new Fallowfield development will be fully accessible, with wheelchair access to all areas, and lift provision in all blocks.
“The demand of students requiring adapted accommodation indicates the provision of 1% of adapted or accessible rooms in the development will exceed requirements.
“All of the rooms in the new development have been designed in a way that enables further adaptation if required.”
The group’s third demand calls for rent stabilisation to sustainably protect lower-income students as well as families around Manchester from price hikes.
“As the University is the biggest landlord in the city, when they increase their rents this has a knock-on effect as other Manchester landlords will increase theirs too,” said Eva*, a mechatronics engineering master’s student.
Jason agreed, saying: “It’s a slow, violent push-out of local people as landlords know they can make more money renting to multiple students instead of one family.
“In Moss Side, landlords have doubled rent prices to match university accommodation – how are you meant to raise a family with these prices?”
Moss Side has witnessed a staggering 130% growth in median house prices in the last decade, according to data published yesterday by Common Wealth.
The Fight the Rent Hike campaign is a revival of the infamous Rent Strike, whose activists were forcibly evicted by University of Manchester bailiffs after they occupied a building to demand rent reductions in February 2023.
Manchester Uni students who were occupying two classrooms in the Simon building were evicted by bailiffs just after 5AM this morning.
— Jacob Waters (@Jwatersjourno) March 22, 2023
They say it won’t silence them and they’ll continue to take action until management agree to meet with them pic.twitter.com/WdNLR4Odij
During this strike, more than 350 students refused to pay rent for university accommodation they deemed substandard during the cost-of-living crisis and were threatened with fines and expulsions after collectively withholding more than £2m.
A month later, 97% of 11,000 students voted in support of Manchester Student Union’s motion to make 40% of university accommodation meet NUS guidelines of affordability within the next three years.
However, Fight the Rent Hike confirmed they are not planning any occupations.
“We are approaching this campaign in good faith and exhausting all angles before that,” said Jason.
Eva* agreed and said: “We’re hopeful that Duncan Ivison, the new vice chancellor, might be more receptive as he highlights listening to student concerns – now we need to see if he acts on that.”
*Pseudonym
Feature image: Szymon Shields on Pexels
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