One minute you are at the school gates, waiting for your child to rush to you, another messy painting in hand to be stuck onto an already overloaded fridge. And then in the blink of an eye you are traipsing around a London University with said (now grown) child in tow, wondering how you will cope when they have flown the nest and you are no longer being woken at 4 am on a Saturday morning by the insistent ringing of the doorbell due to them forgetting their key again!
Going to university is an exciting experience, but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s going to be expensive. It’s the second biggest cost to students, after their tuition fees, and the biggest upfront cost, so getting it right is important.
Student halls are the obvious choice for many freshers and are still the most popular choice. More than 90% want to live in some kind of student halls because it helps them meet other students and settle in quickly. As a guide, a place in student halls costs an average of £124 per week, which rises to £157 in London student halls. There is variation in price across the country, and within each city, there is a range of prices and quality.
London student halls of residence have changed a lot over the last 20 years. The majority are now self-catering, en suite rooms in flats with a shared kitchen and living space. While many are still run directly by universities, an increasing number are run by independent companies, working closely with universities.
In 2023, you can forget about the student stereotype of unwashed youngsters trashing the kitchen at a wild house party or leaving piles of greasy dishes and a four-week-old takeaway festering on the worktop! Today’s students are savvy and they’re looking for decent digs. Thanks to the larger cost of loans many students are looking to make the most of their cash, looking for good value yet top quality places to live.
London has one of the largest concentrations of universities and higher education institutions in the world. It has 40 higher education institutions (not counting foreign Universities with London branches) and has a student population of more than 400,000.
Buying, furnishing and letting to students offers a consistent income and readily available clients actively seeking quality accommodation. Luxury accommodation is springing up near universities in London and around the country, as students expect more for their money than ever before. This means that landlords of student accommodation could and should be cashing in.
Being a landlord in this sector does come with some additional responsibilities compared to your standard buy-to-let, such as ensuring you are carrying out all the guidelines laid down by the local authority.
But what of the responsibility of ensuring your tenants are living in accommodation that lives up to their expectations? Will a lick of paint really do the job? Or will you have to go to the expense (not to mention the cost to the environment) of ripping out and replacing tired and dated furniture? Well, we are here to tell you,
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY!
Have you considered VIYNL WRAPPING??
Student accommodation can be refurbished quickly, conveniently and at a significantly lower cost than refurbishment through durable vinyl wrapping. From doors to beds, desks to wardrobes, we can vinyl wrap almost everything in a student accommodation room.
One thing we are passionate about at Fusion is customer satisfaction, meaning we deliver on time, we provide you with the highest quality vinyl wrapping, and our quotes will amaze you!
Vinyl wrapping is a newish phenomenon that only those who are ahead of the game in refurbishment are currently using. Does it look good? Yes. Is it durable? Yes. At Fusion, we use architectural film, which is more durable and of higher quality than other vinyl wraps.
Vinyl wrapping can transform student accommodation bedrooms into a welcoming and, importantly, sellable place.
VINYL WRAP FURNITURE
We recently turned around a project of 100 student accommodation bedrooms in four weeks. Yes, really!
Every item of furniture in those rooms was vinyl wrapped: wardrobes, doors, shelves, desks – even the bed and bedside cabinet!
Student accommodation is consistently reused every year, which means that to upgrade a student accommodation, you may have a short time frame to complete the job.
Our Commercial Vinyl Wrapping service takes Fusion nationwide for all of your student accommodation wrapping needs.
Gen Z doesn’t want beech (it’s sad but true). They want modern designs. New-look rooms. An air of luxury in their living space even when in student accommodation.
Why Should Student Accommodations Choose Vinyl Wrapping?
In order for your customers, and likely their parents, to choose your student accommodation for their new home, your rooms need to be up-to-date and be worthy of their money.
We have moved on from beech effect furniture and grey wood effects still don’t seem to be going anywhere for the time being. We can offer you around 20 grey wood effects in various shades to fit your vision. Or hundreds of other wood colours if you wish to keep a pop of colour on your furniture.
Vinyl wrapping is quicker, simpler and more cost effective than replacing furniture, what more could you want?
Many students leave their accommodation by June and return in September, we would therefore recommend having vinyl wrapping completed in this gap. However, a benefit of vinyl wrapping over other forms of refurbishment is that students could use the bedroom as soon as the vinyl wrapping is complete.
We work alongside the student accommodation to suit their schedule. We can be flexible to work at times that are the least disruptive to students, ideally when students are no longer in their accommodation during the summer break.
What Should You Expect?
The end result of a vinyl wrapping project will be a new finish on the existing surface. Before the wrapping process begins, you can expect to see small repairs that involve filling and sanding to prepare the surface for the vinyl wrap. However, if we believe that your best option is to replace your furniture, we will tell you after a site survey.
How Do You Wrap?
We use self-adhesive architectural vinyl film to create new finishes on existing surfaces through tried and tested techniques. We have a team of skilled installers who complete all work to the highest standard and are specifically trained in interior architectural film.
Students could use the bedroom that night if you wanted them to. Choosing vinyl wrapping means that there is no mess, no smells to air out, no waiting for anything to set and no downtime in rooms.
It’s a different story from removing each item of furniture, patch plastering, installing new furniture and needing to redecorate. This is a process that takes weeks and involves long lead times and several trades reliably working together without a hitch to stay on schedule.
KITCHEN RENOVATION
The kitchen is often the real hub of student accommodation and a clean, modern area is essential in drawing in those all-important potential students and their concerned parents!
Kitchen wrapping is a way of completely transforming your existing units and worktops without the hefty cost involved in purchasing and fitting a brand-new kitchen. At Fusion, we really can assure you that you could not be in safer hands with our installation team. What these guys can do with vinyl is mind-blowing. A quick, clean, quiet and perfectly executed installation has meant we’ve had over 100 happy customers, many referrals and a collection of kitchen transformations that wouldn’t look out of place in Ideal Home magazine. What could be easier and more cost-effective for your student house or student halls?
Getting accommodation right is important for more reasons than you might think. It can affect how students feel about their whole university experience and can have an impact on their academic success. Get your student halls whipped into shape with a brand new look in vinyl and you will have those young people returning year on year.
