Helpless students are without water or electricity after their city centre flats were hit with a power outage.
Many residents at The Exchange on Hotham Street in Liverpool city centre have been without any electricity and water since around 6pm last night, Monday, January 15. The outage comes after months of alleged issues with the flats, with students previously complaining of leaks, cracked ceilings and no hot water.
Building letting company Urban Evolution, which oversees the student flats, told the Liverpool ECHO that "regretfully there had been a power outage" but said it “fully expected power to be reinstated very soon”.
The letting company added: “We have multiple staff members onsite to help support tenants as we do everything possible to reinstate power.
“Our main concern now is our tenants’ welfare and supporting them as best we can until power is back on. We expect some positive news soon.”
However many students have claimed communication with the letting company has been poor and claim their complaints are not being dealt with.
READ MORE:Met Office update as more snow forecast to hit Liverpool
READ MORE:Four children in hospital after house fills with carbon monoxide
Nathan Moore, a 19 year-old studying media at Liverpool John Moores University, told the ECHO there was panic when the electricity went out, on what turned out to be a bitterly cold night on Merseyside as snow battered the region. He added: “Everyone was out of their flats, panicking, running around, on the phone to their parents.”
He claimed students were forced to discard their food as the fridges and freezers were turned off. He has also claimed that the building's fire alarms are not working and anyone leaving the building had to do so in total darkness
Nathan said: “We had to go to the emergency stairs and all of it is in pitch black. The fire alarms don’t work. People have candles but that could set fire to the building.”
The 19-year-old claims doors to the building, some which are powered by electricity, are unable to be locked which has caused many students to feel "scared".
Meanwhile Megan Yates and Ryan Moore, who both study psychology at JMU, stayed in the JMU Student Life Building last night for warmth and water. Megan, 20, said: “We’ve got our toothbrushes with us, it was below freezing last night.”
The ECHO contacted three of Liverpool's universities about the support they are offering to students who are living in the building. A spokesperson for Liverpool Hope University said: “A small number of Liverpool Hope students live in The Exchange. We have been in contact with them and have made rooms in our halls of residence at our Creative Campus available for them to stay in whilst this issue is resolved.”
Despite Urban Evolution stating residents have been "receiving regular updates", student Megan claims they have not been given a time as to when the outage will be resolved. She said residents on her floor had been given some water bottles but said there are not enough to last.
She said: “There are 16 bottles per floor but each floor has 30 people living in it.” Nathan claims he had been given 26 bottles for his whole floor.
Students also claim staff who work in the building, but who are not employed by Urban Evolution, have told them the issue will take weeks to resolve and to find somewhere else to live. Urban Evolution have not responded to this claim.
Nathan said: “They really don’t understand. I’m from the Isle of Man, I can’t just go home." Megan added: “They recommend us to find somewhere else for two weeks.”
Another student in the building, who did not wish to be named, said he had been forced to ask around city centre hotels if there was any space to stay last night, eventually finding a Travelodge which let them stay at a reduced rate.
Tymoteusz Rutkowski, an 18 year-old architecture student at JMU, said: “There’s no power, no water or anything. You have to go down six floors in pitch black."
"We’re having to come to Starbucks to do university work. We can’t cook any food because we don’t have electricity and have to throw stuff out.”
It is not the first time students have complained of problems with the Exchange Street accommodation. Back in November the Liverpool ECHO spoke to Eden Lochridge, a business student at Liverpool John Moores University, who had moved into The Exchange in Liverpool city centre with his friends for the 2022/23 academic year while studying for his master's. He said he left the building two months early due to the problems, claiming there was poor Wi-Fi, faulty lighting, and leaky windows that left his bedroom floor covered in water.
And in January of this year the ECHO spoke to Deeksha Shivakumara Swamy and Kathryn Swift, who both live in The Exchange student accommodation, who told the ECHO they have faced repeated problems since they moved in last September, including with the water supply.
Megan and other students said they report issues through an internal complaints portal, but claim the issues are marked as completed, despite not being resolved.
Urban Evolution previously told the ECHO “all maintenance issues when reported correctly are dealt with in a reasonable timeframe with tenants’ welfare at the forefront of our team’s minds.” The spokesperson added that water temperatures “have been known to dip in a small number of units at the exchange during peak times. This is something our engineers are working on at the moment and will be fully resolved very shortly.” Average turnaround times were said to be less than 24 hours.
Megan said: “It’s beyond dire. It’s disgusting.
“For at least a month we haven’t had reliable hot water. All we’ve been told is to try not to shower at peak times, but we’re students – every time is a peak time.
“We feel like we’ve been left to fend for ourselves. We've had to find our own way. The drains are awful, there’s problems with sewage. We’ve had to put bleach and boiling water down the drain to solve it.”
Tymoteusz added: “The whole building stinks of sewage. We’ve had problems with our flat since we’ve moved in. They said they'd check it but nothing has been done. Black mould has been created due to the sewage problems. I've been that stressed, I've had to stay with my partner. I'm not being heard.”
Nathan added: “Their [Urban Evolution’s] communication is the problem. They don't communicate with us at all. It’s so stressful. We’re missing lectures because we can’t do anything, because we can't shower, we can't brush our teeth.”
Another student living in The Exchange said: “I have had to go and have showers in the local gym as the low temperatures outside are making cold showers just not an option.”
Another student, who did not wish to be named, said: “You just feel helpless – what can you do in our position? It's hard during the winter. You just want to get in and have a shower. I've got university at 1.30pm today. I can't take a shower, I can’t brush my teeth.
“Most of the time, it'll be logged as completed even though no efforts have been made to fix it. I've pretty much given up reporting any issues in my room.”
Another student added: “We kind of expected this whole thing to happen eventually. I've had no hot water for two and a half weeks.”
A spokesperson for Urban Evolution said: “Regretfully, there is a power outage at the building, residents have been receiving regular updates and refreshments have been provided.
“We have a team of engineers onsite working through the problems aiming to have power live in a few hours and will continue to provide live updates. We have multiple staff members onsite to help support tenants as we do everything possible to reinstate power.
“Our main concern now is our tenants’ welfare and supporting them as best we can until power is back on. We expect some positive news soon.”
The spokesperson added later that there is a “contingency plan to fall back on” if water and electricity is not restored but added that they expect power to be reinstated “very soon”.
The ECHO contacted Urban Evolution for further clarification in regards to students being told to find alternative accommodation, problems with drains and other issues relating to hot water, leaks and the complaints system that residents have allegedly faced going back to September last year.
There are many ways to keep up with news in Liverpool and our website is just one. Below you can find details about our premium app with a smooth interface, and no adverts. You will also find links to our breaking whatsapp community, Facebook page, our in-depth Daily Post newsletter.
Try Liverpool Echo Premium for 99p with no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features
Don’t miss the biggest and breaking news by joining our dedicated WhatsApp community. R
The Liverpool Daily Post newsletter delves into the biggest stories on Merseyside