Maintenance Issues at Moonraker Point

Students living at King’s most expensive residence hall Moonraker Point have been experiencing severe issues with the company responsible for maintenance at the residences. Roar investigates the matter. 

Many a student know that the stresses which come part and parcel with the student lifestyle rarely ever begin or end on campus. Alongside coursework, many have a myriad of obligations to juggle, such as expenses for food or housing, or a job with which to fund the former. For that reason, student accommodations are the optimal solution for many – a safe, furnished place to both live and socialise, where many of the struggles of living alone are alleviated by on-site staff, allowing for more focus on one’s studies.

For some King’s students currently living at Moonraker Point in Southwark, however, the opposite has often been the case.

Since move-in week just under four weeks ago, numerous students at Moonraker (an accommodation run in tandem by KCL and Unite Students) have been struggling to have their maintenance issues addressed by the crews hired to address them. A list of such issues includes faulty extractor vents, missing stove knobs, clogged drains, and improperly installed showerheads. Each of the concerns listed were reported to the team at reception on or around the day of arrival mid-September. Regardless, none of the issues have been fixed or were repaired several weeks after the initial complaint was filed.

One student Roar spoke to said that their room even featured a completely inoperable deadbolt on their room’s door – meaning their room remained unlocked each night while they were sleeping. This was not repaired until 11 October, 26 days after staff were informed of the issue.

Alongside these complaints, residents at Moonraker have reported faulty washers and dryers in the facility’s laundry room (operated and maintained by a company called Circuit), as well as inoperable printers, which were replaced with functioning ones on 9 October.

The accommodation is run by Unite Students, an independent provider of student accommodations, but is exclusive to KCL students. As stated on Unite’s webpage, each of their properties conforms to the National Code of Standards for Larger Developments. Clause 4.10 of that code explains how residences are to handle maintenance issues, stating:

“Any works that are required meet with the following performance standards: […] Emergency Repairs are completed, and or made safe, within 24 hours of a report of a defect. […] Urgent Repairs are completed within five working days of report of the defect.”

According to the Code’s definitions, all of the complaints listed above would fall under either the banner of an emergency or urgent repair; none of them were completed within the time frames listed. Moonraker Point is, according to the King’s webpage for residence fees, the most expensive residence offered by the university, with rents starting at 319 GBP per week for a regular en-suite room.