Accommodation

Creating a home away from home at our Sussex campus.

Wherever you choose to live whilst studying with us, we want to make sure you have the best student experience possible. Accommodation is available for all full-time students, for every academic year of study. All annexes have a kitchen and communal space with a TV, basic crockery and cooking equipment as well as cleaning basics and laundry facilities that are free to use. A housekeeping service comes once a week to clean communal areas and bedrooms and provide clean bedding and towels.

Old School House

A 19th century building steeped in history, having served as both the village school house and cottages for tenants of West Dean estate. It is one of our newest renovations and is nestled on the edge of West Dean village. It comprises of thirteen bedrooms, an enclosed private garden, communal spaces, and a kitchen.

Useful information

Sheets, blankets and towels are provided by the college, however, you can also bring your own. Laundry facilities are provided for all residential students and can be used from 7am to 10pm each day.

Kitchens in residential accommodation are stocked with the essentials, such as plates, mugs, cutlery, and some cooking equipment. You may want to bring a kettle for your room, or further kitchen equipment if you are a keen cook. All meals are included for residential students on full board accommodation. If you are paying for accommodation only, meals can be bought on an ad-hoc basis. Food can be purchased in Chichester, where you can find a range of supermarket chains and independent food shops. Most supermarkets will deliver to your accommodation.

TV: reception varies around campus and TV points are not available in all rooms, so students should check this before purchasing. If you are planning to bring a TV, please make sure you apply for a TV licence. TVs are provided in common rooms.

WiFi: Wireless internet connections are provided in all student accommodation at no extra charge. Internet access is monitored and a 'fair usage cap' is in place to ensure that the bandwidth is evenly shared. We encourage students to use speed checking tools and report any issues to our IT team. Various free speed checking tools are available online, such as Speedtest. Please note that Speedtest is an example of a recommended speed checking tool, however the College is not affiliated with this provider and students are welcome to use alternative services.

Furniture: students should not bring any big furniture pieces but you are welcome to bring smaller items that will make your room more homely, such as posters and pictures.

Heating and hot water: all of the heating and hot water needs of the College and student accommodation are met entirely by our biomass heating system which uses wood fuel sustainably sourced within four miles.

Fees and deposits: Up to date fees can be found here.
The tenant will be asked to give a deposit of £200 on accepting the offer of accommodation, which will be held as security against damage to the accommodation. Please note that we are not part of a deposit protection scheme

Applying for Accommodation

Accommodation applications are through admissions once the student has received an offer to study with us. Once applicants accept our offer and pay £200 accommodation deposit, student services contact offer holders with the relevant information. Offer holders receive a refund if accommodation is full.

Room allocation is usually on a first come first served basis. However, we make sure that returning students are prioritised and aim to make sure no-one’s on their own, e.g. 1 ceramics student with 9 furniture students. When applying for accommodation you can raise preferences with Academic Registry stating what sort of annex you would like, e.g. quiet or lively, or certain features you’d prefer.

Accommodation Accreditation

We know how important it is to have a safe, comfortable living space while studying. We also know that it can be a daunting process when moving away from home. That's why all annexes of our halls of residence are accredited by ANUK/Unipol National Codes for assured accommodation.

What do these codes mean? They protect your rights and allow you to have peace of mind that a management team are in place to support you throughout your studies. The codes include:

a healthy, safe environment
timely repairs and maintenance
a clean, pleasant living environment
a formal, contractual relationship with your landlord
access to health and wellbeing services
a living environment free from anti-social behaviour

Read more about the ANUK/Unipol National Codes.

Accommodation and living costs

Catering on the West Dean Campus

Many students choose full board accommodation, with all meals served in the dining room. If you choose to stay on a room-only basis, shared student kitchens are fully equipped and food can be purchased at the West Dean Village Shop or in nearby supermarkets in Chichester. Students also have the option of having lunch on campus. See our living costs for more information.

The catering team offer a menu based on our values of being wholesome, sustainable and local. We provide a plated service with a selection of meals, including non-gluten and vegan options. Students can start the day with tempting hot and cold options for breakfast as well as a continental selection. There is a new menu each day, for lunch and dinner there will always be a selection of hot meals, plated fresh salads, hot and cold desserts. Where possible we use local ingredients, including venison from the Estate, vegetables fresh from the gardens and local artisan producers.

As well as using local suppliers we have also implemented a food waste system, which is turned into renewable energy and bio-compost, we have reduced the amount of plastic packaging from our suppliers and are continually working on ways to improve sustainability.

Hot and cold drinks are available to students throughout the day from the atrium where we have added a milk fridge to reduce the use of plastic milk cartons, alternative milks are also available.

Special diets
Students with special medical or religious dietary concerns should contact the Student Services Team before their programme starts.

Sustainability at West Dean

We are committed to providing a sustainable future at West Dean. Find out more about our Sustainability Plan.

We are embedding environmentally friendly practices in our student accommodation and have taken the following steps towards a more sustainable future:

Heating and hot water
All of the heating and hot water needs of the College and student accommodation are met entirely by our biomass heating system which uses wood fuel sustainably sourced within four miles. The biomass district heating scheme was one of the first, and remains one of the largest of its kind in the UK.
Housekeeping
We discourage single use items by providing reusable cleaning cloths for all annexes. Our housekeeping team are moving to more sustainable cleaning products.
Gardens and green spaces
Our experienced West Dean Gardens team are always looking for new ways to improve sustainability and respond to climate change. They have propagated drought tolerant plants from the innovative drought tolerant flowerbeds in the main garden and planted these around the annexes. They have also provided “grow your own” beds, which students have used to grow a wide array of plants, from herbs and vegetable to sweet peas and sunflowers. We also work with students to provide a composting scheme, in which students add their fruit and vegetable peelings to the Gardens compost heap.
Bike storage
Following student feedback, we have increased bike storage options on site.
Refurbishments
As part of our location within South Downs National Park, sustainability is high on the agenda when enhancing or building any new accommodation and environmental impact assessments are a part of the planning application.
Waste management
We are committed to incorporating more sustainable practices into our waste management systems across the campus, including expanding options for food waste disposal. For more information on our latest waste management plan, please contact the Student Services Team: [email protected].
Catering
Find out more about our catering team’s work on sustainability here.