ROOM TO MOVE: Charles Sturt University campus services manager Mark Chapman next to existing student accommodation. CSU’s on-campus student accommodation will grow by about a third when a $9.4 million complex (see sketch right) is built.Photo: STEVE GOSCH 1018sguni2
MORE Charles Sturt University Orange students will live on campus than ever before when a five-building, 99-room student accommodation complex is built.
The university lodged the development application with Orange City Council last week, and campus services manager Mark Chapman hopes work could start on the $9.4 million complex as early as January. Mr Chapman said the new rooms were in response to increased student intake and the price and availability of rental accommodation in Orange.
“Most students would prefer to live on campus,” he said.
“Next year we’ll have first year [dental students] right through to fifth year. We’ll have the full contingent of students commencing all courses and physio is looking similar.”
Currently the university has about 280 on-campus rooms - with places hotly contested come enrolment time each year.
The university hopes the new building will be open to students by 2014.
Of the four new single-room accommodation buildings, three will be allocated to undergraduate students while the fourth will feature eight studio apartment-style rooms for postgraduate students.
The university’s student services had input into the design of the buildings with more share kitchens expected to feature compared to other on-campus accommodation.
While the final make-up is yet to be finalised, some rooms will feature ensuites and disabled rooms will also be available.
An administration block with common rooms for the students will round out the development with a landscaped courtyard area in the centre.
Mr Chapman said the new complex would join the three other accommodation buildings on site and the four cottages at the front of the university used for family accommodation, which will return to the Department of Primary Industries in a year.
The new accommodation will be built on the site of a former hockey field next to an existing 100-room dormitory built about two years ago.
A demountable common room on site will be relocated as part of the work.
Like all the on-campus accommodation, the new buildings will feature rainwater tanks to use recycled water for toilets and irrigation.
Orange City Council’s assessment of the development is expected to be completed by November with a final decision to be made by the Joint Regional Planning Panel before the end of the year.
clare.colley@ruralpress.com