The days of the Young Ones living in a rickety old bedsit are long gone.
Now, to be a successful university landlord, your accommodation needs to exude quality as students seek clean, secure and connected properties complete with home comforts and great Wi-Fi.
That’s why Kexgill has created the University Quarter (UQ) – the UK’s only student village where excellence comes as standard.
Made up of 204 properties clustered around the University of Hull campus, Kexgill has invested £45m to make the quarter one of the most attractive student residential areas in the UK.
Now, alongside en-suite rooms, giant American-style fridge freezers, designer décor and newly fitted kitchens, each UQ house boasts KCOM’s ultrafast Lightstream broadband with unlimited data and speeds of up to 1Gbps.
Owning 94 per cent of the properties in the University Quarter, Kexgill’s aim is to create a community feel for its tenants, providing communal events such as pop up barbecues, concerts and even online gaming tournaments.
For Richard Stott, Kexgill’s group managing director, providing world class broadband is an essential part of the UQ’s offering.
He said: “You have to adapt with the times and now students expect a very high standard of accommodation – and a quality broadband service is a big part of that.
“Broadband is an essential utility for our customers. Not only is it a big part of how students relax and spend their recreation time, but it is also essential for their studies – and that’s why it’s one for the first things they look for when they’re finding a place to live.
“For us, it’s part of an overall package providing the best university experience possible for our tenants.”
Second year medical student Molly Britton, 21, agrees that ultrafast broadband is a huge attraction for when searching for digs,
She said: “It’s definitely one of the main things you look for. It’s pretty much essential now for studying and research. Our lectures are filmed and we can go back and watch them online, which is incredibly useful.
“When we’re not studying, we’re watching Netflix, or listening to Spotify, and without good broadband you couldn’t do any of that.”
Alan Worthing, KCOM sales director, said: “We’re delighted to have partnered with Kexgill to deliver full fibre Lightstream broadband to all 204 houses and more than a thousand students in the University Quarter.
“A lot of the time we’ll be sending big design files over that are two to three gigabytes each – and we can be doing that 50 times a week. Having Lightstream means we can send files quickly without any problems and then be getting on with the next job.
“On top of that we have Skype calls, Google Hangout meetings and all the staff help take care of the social media channels so they need to be connected to that.
“We’re probably sending out 100 gigabytes of stuff every day - and receiving the same amount back from clients. Without Lightstream that simply wouldn’t be possible.”
"Ultrafast broadband is an essential tool for modern life and vital for students who not only stream TV and music, games and socialise, but also work and study online too.
“Our full fibre technology delivers ultrafast broadband direct to the property, opening up a wide range of opportunities for everyone living in the best-connected student accommodation in the UK.”