CCW Foundation (Camberwell) + Gardens House for accom. AMA :)

OP

Original post by neil_thomson

What's Gardens house like in terms of socialising and overall facilities? Is it mostly Camberwell or a mixture (I'm going to LCC in September)? Also don't suppose you've heard opinions on any other cheapish accommodation (courwainer's court, Emily bowes hall)?

In terms of facilities - they have a common room, laundry/refuse store and 4 apartment blocks, the shared facilities are all pretty basic all across ual accoms, but gardens house is attached to Camberwell's 24h learning zone (with printers, sewing machines, lightboxes, 3D printer etc) connected to Camberwell's learning zone so there's that added plus that set it apart from cordwainers and ebc :smile:

for socialising, the halls rep do a pretty good job with maintaining weekly social activities in the common room (that portland house people also go to) so i'd say the social presence is really what you make it be - if you're not living in a studio you'll be in a flat of 8, so there's plenty of opportunities to socialise

from the people i've met in GH i'd say its 80% camberwell students with LCC being the 10-15% of it, so not too many but you likely won't be the only one! there's a bus that goes straight to E&C across the accom so it's pretty convenient.

I personally only know a friend from emily bowes and she goes to LCC - travelling is around 2h so it's not the most convenient and ebc is pretty far away (zone 3) - as travel costs kinda adds up, i think living closer to campus (like at highline or gardens for you) would be a better option, but that's just from my own opinion :smile:

hope this helps!

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 3

Hey just wondering what is the CCW Foundations course like from your experience so far? And also for garden house, are the rooms quiet, also how and which are the shared facilities amongst the 8 people flats? Also what sort of social events are hosted?

Reply 4

OP

Original post by alex6604

Hey just wondering what is the CCW Foundations course like from your experience so far? And also for garden house, are the rooms quiet, also how and which are the shared facilities amongst the 8 people flats? Also what sort of social events are hosted?

hiii i really enjoyed my time in foundation and would highly recommend the course! is there any part of my experience you'd like to know more about? i'd be happy to provide as much useful detail as possible :smile:

the rooms are generally quiet and the walls are kinda decent to the point that you won't be able to hear your flatmates talk loudly but not thick enough that you won't be able to hear screaming or shouting haha
the shared kitchen and dining area will be the only facility within the flats! the other facilities i've mentioned above are all for the whole building, and all social events are put up on the mirrors of the lifts + on ual social's website, the activities that take place regularly are events like movie nights, afternoon tea, yoga etc, but there are also some really interesting and cool one-off events that happen as well, you'll probably get to see more of what they'll be doing for freshers on http://hallslife.arts.ac.uk/events/ x

Reply 5

Original post by ivanaduong

hiii i really enjoyed my time in foundation and would highly recommend the course! is there any part of my experience you'd like to know more about? i'd be happy to provide as much useful detail as possible :smile:

the rooms are generally quiet and the walls are kinda decent to the point that you won't be able to hear your flatmates talk loudly but not thick enough that you won't be able to hear screaming or shouting haha
the shared kitchen and dining area will be the only facility within the flats! the other facilities i've mentioned above are all for the whole building, and all social events are put up on the mirrors of the lifts + on ual social's website, the activities that take place regularly are events like movie nights, afternoon tea, yoga etc, but there are also some really interesting and cool one-off events that happen as well, you'll probably get to see more of what they'll be doing for freshers on http://hallslife.arts.ac.uk/events/ x

Some course related questions: How was the course structured? What pathway did you take? What were classes like? Anything you didn't enjoy as much?
Also for GH, how is the location etc like was it a trek from everything?

Reply 6

Also how is the toilet facilities etc? I'm currently looking at applying to gardens but not sure which room to choose from (Probs not studio) there seems to be a lot and i don't really see any pictures other than the standard one. Which option did you pick? Can you give any insight into the differences of them.

This is what the site said: Standard rooms (41 weeks) are £234.50 per week, £9,615.50 in total. These rooms are 14.4 metres squared and under and have 3/4 size beds.
Standard rooms (50 weeks) are £232.50 per week, £11,625 in total. These rooms are 14.4 metres squared and under and have 3/4 size beds.
Standard rooms (Shared Bathroom), (50 weeks) are £195.50 per week, £9,775 in total. These rooms are 10.32 metres squared and under and have 3/4 size beds.

Premium rooms (Shared Bathroom), (50 weeks) are £200 per week, £10,000 in total. These rooms are 12.8 metres squared and have 3/4 beds.

Reply 7

Cyipwc

2

Original post by ivanaduong

idk if this place works like reddit haha but i thought i would take the plunge and put myself out here for anyone who has any questions about the foundation course in CCW and what living in Gardens House is like (because frankly they don't have enough info on the website lol) :smile:

for more background info - i'm an international student (from hk and california ! lmk if you're from either places hehe let's connect :tongue:

)

currently in CCW Foundation specialising in Graphic Design, and will be attending CSM's BA Graphic Communication Design course this coming September.

I stayed in Gardens House for the majority of the year as well, so i'm down to talk about that too especially with housing apps being open soon (and maybe a bit of Portland House too if that's useful? A few of my friends live there and I've visited them v often so I can say a few times myself + re-direct any queries about the accoms to them to answer you)

Apologies if I respond a bit late btw, I'm currently back home so timezones are different haha

Hi! I’m also from hk and am looking at which house to apply to :smile:

I’m going to camberwell, so both Garden and Portland look very appealing. I was wondering how international the people in both houses are. I’m worried about there being cliques based on nationality because that seems to be the case with my friends in other unis! And would you say the area’s quite dodgey? I mean, ive been to Peckham a few times, but never to the houses themselves. So I’m not sure how safe I would feel walking down the street at night for example.
Thanks in advance :smile:

Reply 8

neil_thomson

4

Original post by ivanaduong

In terms of facilities - they have a common room, laundry/refuse store and 4 apartment blocks, the shared facilities are all pretty basic all across ual accoms, but gardens house is attached to Camberwell's 24h learning zone (with printers, sewing machines, lightboxes, 3D printer etc) connected to Camberwell's learning zone so there's that added plus that set it apart from cordwainers and ebc :smile:

for socialising, the halls rep do a pretty good job with maintaining weekly social activities in the common room (that portland house people also go to) so i'd say the social presence is really what you make it be - if you're not living in a studio you'll be in a flat of 8, so there's plenty of opportunities to socialise

from the people i've met in GH i'd say its 80% camberwell students with LCC being the 10-15% of it, so not too many but you likely won't be the only one! there's a bus that goes straight to E&C across the accom so it's pretty convenient.

I personally only know a friend from emily bowes and she goes to LCC - travelling is around 2h so it's not the most convenient and ebc is pretty far away (zone 3) - as travel costs kinda adds up, i think living closer to campus (like at highline or gardens for you) would be a better option, but that's just from my own opinion :smile:

hope this helps!

Thanks so much, that's super helpful!

Reply 9

OP

Original post by alex6604

Some course related questions: How was the course structured? What pathway did you take? What were classes like? Anything you didn't enjoy as much?
Also for GH, how is the location etc like was it a trek from everything?

The course structure is based on a 3 part module (i think the course page has a pretty detailed outline of it https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/accessories-footwear-and-jewellery/pre-degree-courses/foundation-diploma-in-art-and-design-camberwell). I first picked diagnostic to begin with and then choose to specialise in Graphic Design after! :smile:

our classes are studio-based and we have the occasional lecture in the lecture theatre - the class structure for part 1 (first 6 weeks) is going to be different from the rest of the year (if you're going into diagnostic your schedule's gonna change every 2 weeks haha) but overall you'll have assign studio rooms per specialist and the same class till the end of the year.

Personally I think that the course is a bit oversaturated and that there's not enough resources for everyone attending (room sizes are not that big, even though graphic's studio was one of the bigger rooms i still only had one tablespace worth of area to work in, workshops could only worth up to 11ish students at a time) and I found that pretty restricting. However, you definitely get enough support from tutors/lecturers so support from the uni is still sufficient, I just felt that I wasn't getting my money's worth (am a international student haha so if you're home this feeling probably doesn't apply as much or as strongly). Just a personal opinion though, I know people who didn't find it an issue

The location for GH is really good honestly - there's a bus stop across the street that goes anywhere from elephant and castle to central/west/north london
(closest tube station is Oval [northern line] and Vauxhall [victoria], FYI) and if you attend Camberwell it's literally a minute's walk as GH is in campus + around 10-15mins walk to the foundation building. Security is also decent as you have to go through both the campus gates and the doors to the accoms so you'll feel really safe there. (only con to that is that if you have to run back home just to get your student id to go out if you've forgotten it but at least you'll never be able to leave it behind before heading out to uni)

hope this is helpful!!

Reply 10

OP

Original post by alex6604

Also how is the toilet facilities etc? I'm currently looking at applying to gardens but not sure which room to choose from (Probs not studio) there seems to be a lot and i don't really see any pictures other than the standard one. Which option did you pick? Can you give any insight into the differences of them.

This is what the site said: Standard rooms (41 weeks) are £234.50 per week, £9,615.50 in total. These rooms are 14.4 metres squared and under and have 3/4 size beds.
Standard rooms (50 weeks) are £232.50 per week, £11,625 in total. These rooms are 14.4 metres squared and under and have 3/4 size beds.
Standard rooms (Shared Bathroom), (50 weeks) are £195.50 per week, £9,775 in total. These rooms are 10.32 metres squared and under and have 3/4 size beds.

Premium rooms (Shared Bathroom), (50 weeks) are £200 per week, £10,000 in total. These rooms are 12.8 metres squared and have 3/4 beds.

I stayed in a Standard En-suite! I can't speak for the shared bathroom option as all my friends in Gardens have en-suites, but all bathrooms should be the same for en-suites.
In terms of room sizes and what the rooms look like, all standard rooms look the same (with the exception of not having a bathroom for the ones that are shared ofc) and Premium also has a similar format as the standard rooms, just a little bigger in size than standard shared.
Toilet facilities are pretty basic but will suffice for most people - the 360 that they have on the website pretty much reflects 100% what they have (toilet, mirror, sink, adjustable shower, toilet bowl cleaner, towel rack)

Reply 11

OP

Original post by Cyipwc

Hi! I’m also from hk and am looking at which house to apply to :smile:

I’m going to camberwell, so both Garden and Portland look very appealing. I was wondering how international the people in both houses are. I’m worried about there being cliques based on nationality because that seems to be the case with my friends in other unis! And would you say the area’s quite dodgey? I mean, ive been to Peckham a few times, but never to the houses themselves. So I’m not sure how safe I would feel walking down the street at night for example.
Thanks in advance :smile:

heyy thats awesome! my insta is @ivanaxoelle if you'd like to connect :smile:

I'd say that most people are very welcoming and open to meet people from everywhere as long as you can talk to them well and bond over any type of mutual interest - the whole nationality clique definitely does exist and you'll probably see one in a party but it's mostly because they feel more comfortable speaking in their native tongue rather than speaking in English to other people in the room. it's 100% just personal preference for them, no one will alienate you for your background here! on welcome night I spoke with people all over the world so there's definitely no hierarchy of any kind (especially when literally no one knows each other lol) and any groups that are based on nationality are a personal choice. As long as you show that you're a warm and welcoming person, i'm sure anyone would be willing to be friends with you :smile:

The area's definitely a bit dodgy, but I would say that about most places within the borough of Southwark honestly 😂(esp to hk man **** doesn't even compare). GH and Portland are located at the edge of Camberwell near Peckham. Peckham to me feels a bit dodgier than Camberwell for sure, so if you didn't experience anything strikingly dangerous when you've been in Peckham, I'm sure you'll be fine in Camberwell! just the usual common-sense warning (like keeping your belongings to yourself, avoid making yourself a target etc.) in how you should navigate situations if you find yourself in one.
I've personally never experienced anything bad myself at night (I try to keep a low profile, observe the people around me and walk quickly if I'm alone, but less vigilant when I'm with someone else or in a group), but I've had my friend's phone been stolen out of their hand in broad daylight as I was walking next to them on the way to the campus - so I would highly advise to always keep your phone in your pocket whilst holding on to it/away from sight and grip on it tight and hold it in front of you if you need to use it when you are walking. Phone stealers on phone are very common thing in London in general, but that was the only I personally encountered crime in the year that I lived in the area.

hope this is helpful x

Reply 12

OP

Original post by neil_thomson

Thanks so much, that's super helpful!

no problem at all! glad I could help 😌

Reply 13

Original post by ivanaduong

I stayed in a Standard En-suite! I can't speak for the shared bathroom option as all my friends in Gardens have en-suites, but all bathrooms should be the same for en-suites.
In terms of room sizes and what the rooms look like, all standard rooms look the same (with the exception of not having a bathroom for the ones that are shared ofc) and Premium also has a similar format as the standard rooms, just a little bigger in size than standard shared.
Toilet facilities are pretty basic but will suffice for most people - the 360 that they have on the website pretty much reflects 100% what they have (toilet, mirror, sink, adjustable shower, toilet bowl cleaner, towel rack)

Thank you so much for answering, that definitely helps! I'm picking accomodation at GH at the moment and am looking at the 41 weeks option. Does that mean you'd have to move out basically at the end of the academic year before summer holidays?

Reply 14

Hi also do you mind adding me on insta might be easier to send messages across thanks! insta: _alex.wei_

Reply 15

OP

Original post by alex6604

Thank you so much for answering, that definitely helps! I'm picking accomodation at GH at the moment and am looking at the 41 weeks option. Does that mean you'd have to move out basically at the end of the academic year before summer holidays?

yup! tenancy ends around early june :smile:

i prefer it like that as i go home for the summer anyways

Reply 16

Cecile.brk

2

Hey I'm starting the bsc creative computing next year and I can't decide between Gardens house and Wigram house. Gardens house sounds great ! do you know anything about Wigram house ?
I don't know if I'll be happy staying in Peckham, is it fun ?
thanks for the informations :smile:

Reply 17

OP

Original post by Cecile.brk

Hey I'm starting the bsc creative computing next year and I can't decide between Gardens house and Wigram house. Gardens house sounds great ! do you know anything about Wigram house ?
I don't know if I'll be happy staying in Peckham, is it fun ?
thanks for the informations :smile:

Hi! I went to visit Wigram House awhile back when I was looking for new places to stay for my BA in the coming September. It's a really nice accommodation in Chelsea and it's really close to central. Chelsea is a pretty affluent district (and all of the architecture and stores in the area reflect that) and so spending is likely to be higher if you're living there, but Peckham has a lot to hidden gems that I don't think Chelsea has - it has a pretty elaborate art scene and so if you like vintage/zine/ceramic fairs or things that are considered more 'hipster' then Peckham's your place :smile:

Reply 18

Cecile.brk

2

thank you very much for answering ! I choose Garden then and if other people chose Gardens house too : add me on Instagram : @cecileblblbl I would love to meet some futur neighbors

Reply 19

OP