Students left out in the cold as accommodation deemed “a potential threat to lives”

Students left homeless after the council shuts down new student accommodation, the Heritage.


Fire inspectors shut down new student accommodation site, the Heritage, after a blunder by the developers.

After a software issue with the fire alarms, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service felt that the premises provided “an immediate threat to [resident’s] safety and potentially their lives.”

The Heritage had been described on its website as “boutique student accommodation”

A parent of one of the students described the place as “a building site”, adding: “I can’t understand why the kids were allowed to move in”.

Despite this, the 120-bed site in Crookesmoor was advertised by developers as “boutique student accommodation” with” their most stylish and highest specification to date.”

Students had paid deposits from as early as November last year and had expected to move in at the start of July 2014.

Developers have provided some students with hotel rooms outside of Sheffield, forcing students to slog it into uni from as far away as Derby during Fresher’s week.

Some students have been forced to sleep in their cars

Some have taken extreme measures, sleeping in their cars until the premises are given the all-clear.

One student added that he felt that sleeping in his car was his “only option” after being offered hotel accommodation in the Peak District.

The developers of the Heritage site have responded to the outcry, saying that “we take this issue very, very seriously and are trying to get it resolved as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, many students continue to be left without accommodation, and are still awaiting information on a new moving-in date.