Imperial College London's main student accommodation comprises six first-year undergraduate halls of residence around West London, primarily South Kensington and North Acton.[1] [2] Accommodation in these halls is generally for first-year undergraduates only,[2] although some students may return as "hall seniors" with operational responsibilities[3] and there are three halls available for continuing students.[4] Halls are run by wardens (and, in some halls, assistant wardens) who are members of staff, along with sub-wardens who are PhD students. Silwood Park halls are postgraduate, but only cater for students studying on the Silwood Park postgraduate site in Berkshire.[5]
The college has enacted a policy in recent years of moving accommodation provision from central London to North Acton.[6] [7] [8] All halls are self-catered.[9]
Imperial's primary and traditional halls, with room for around 1,200 students, are located on its South Kensington campus. Beit Hall opened as the first hall of residence in 1926, funded by its namesake: Alfred Beit. It is located next to Imperial College Union around the Beit Quadrangle. This was followed by the Prince's Gardens halls, the first of which, Falmouth, Keogh, Selkirk, and Tizard, opened in 1963, and formed Southside Halls. Linstead Hall and the first sport centre followed in 1968. The original Southside and Weeks Halls were Grade II listed in 1993.[10] [11] In 2005 the Prince's Gardens halls were demolished, with the sports centre reopening as Ethos gym in 2006, and Southside Halls reopening in 2007.[12] [13] Weeks hall is no longer used as a hall of residence, but remains as a college building.[6]
The North Acton halls, with room for around 1,400 students, are located away from Imperial's main South Kensington campus. The first buildings to open on the site was the Woodward Buildings, which opened in 2015 and have a rooftop garden.[14] This was followed by the 31-storey Kemp Porter Buildings, which topped out in 2019.[15] There have been local complaints about the appearance of the Woodward Buildings, as well as student complaints about the relocation of accommodation space to Acton.[8] [16] Kemp Porter has 708 bed spaces in around 600 rooms,[17] while Woodward holds 689 students.[18]
Wilson House is located near to Edgware Road and Paddington tube stations. It consists of 22 connected Victorian houses with a purpose-build block located behind these, holding 382 students in total.[19] Wilson House is a Grade-II listed building.
Accommodation for around 470 continuing undergraduate students is available in:[4]
The postgraduate-only accommodation at Silwood Park consists of five halls with room for a total of 86 students:[5]