Accommodation
Living at Churchill College
We guarantee on-site accommodation for undergraduates on three/four-year courses, and all first-year postgraduate students can be provided with college accommodation too.
Between two-thirds and three-quarters of postgraduate students can be accommodated by the College beyond their first year.
Living on campus means that you can easily access all of your college facilities and support services, leaving you free to concentrate on your studies and enjoy the benefits of life in college and at Cambridge. It’s one of the main advantages of Churchill College and helps build our strong sense of community. You can also watch our virtual tour of the College to see more of the campus and its facilities.
Accessibility
We have five rooms that have been adapted for wheelchair users or those with restricted mobility. Detailed information on Cambridge’s provisions for students with disabilities is available from the University’s Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC). Don’t hesitate to get in touch, with us or the ADRC, if you have any questions or needs that you’d like to discuss.
As a relatively new college, we perform well for physical access. A full accessibility audit, engaging multiple stakeholders informs our strategy and progress.
Transport and parking
Students are usually only permitted a car in Cambridge if it is essential for academic study or for coping with a medical condition. We do have parking on site, but you’ll need to apply for a permit. Bikes are welcome and cycling is a cheap, fast and effective way of getting around Cambridge.
You’ll need to register your bike with the Porters’ Lodge; University regulations require it. This will help you recover your bike if it’s stolen. There are five locked bike stores on campus to keep your bike secure.
We also have a bike repair shop on-site, Cambridge Bicycle Workshop. It’s just off Churchill Road, near the staff car park.
Route U is the University bus for everyone subsidised by the University of Cambridge, and stops at the end of the road.
Insurance
In association with Gallagher, we’ve arranged contents insurance for all our students staying with us in our residence. This insurance policy will cover you inside of your room for fire, flood and theft of your possessions, including your gadgets.
It is important to note that this cover will not provide protection if you were to accidentally damage any of your items, and it will not cover you when you take any of your possessions outside of your accommodation. There is some cover (not including accidental damage) for personal possessions at University sites, e.g. for the theft of your bike if you are using a Sold Secure Approved Lock. Please check your cover to find out more.
It is really important you spend a couple of minutes to review your cover by checking online. You will find all the important information you need to know, including what’s covered and what’s not covered on the policy.
Cleaning & Maintenance
Our Housekeeping and Maintenance team are here to help students keep their accommodation in good shape. Students can expect communal areas like kitchens, toilets, shower rooms and corridors to be cleaned regularly, but you are expected to keep your personal living areas clean and tidy. You’ll have a regular cleaner who visits, who will become a familiar face to you!
Standards
Churchill College is a member of the National Codes of Standards.
This offers students peace of mind in knowing that we follow professional standards of service.
The Code ensures that tenants receive good standards of housing management. Disputes and misunderstandings are rare, and where problems do occur they are resolved quickly. The benefits of living in student accommodation which complies with the Code include:
- Your contract is clearly written stating your rent amount and any other fees that you need to pay for, such as a deposit
- Your accommodation is ready for you at the beginning of term
- Your accommodation, including all furniture and fittings, are in a reasonable condition
- Your accommodation is secure
- Repairs and maintenance will be carried out within agreed timescales
- Your accommodation complies with health and safety standards which covers such things as fire prevention and electrical safety
- If a deposit is charged, you will know what it is for and it will be returned to you promptly at the end of the year with a clear explanation of any deductions
- A set procedure is in place to deal with disputes and complaints effectively.
Undergraduate Accommodation
At Churchill College you are guaranteed on-site accommodation for undergraduate courses.
As an undergraduate here, you live in a communal court within the College’s spacious gardens and sports grounds. Rooms are arranged around mixed staircases, shared by students from different subject and year groups. This means you meet a diverse range of people from across the college from the moment you arrive.
All Churchill College rooms are generously sized and modern. They all include a sink, and 40% have en suite bathrooms. All rooms are fully furnished, and most have double beds. All have free wi-fi, access to shared bathrooms, laundry facilities and snack kitchens. Snack kitchens contain fridges and combination microwaves (ideal for making snacks, but not intended for complex cooking).
You’ll never have to share a room and we guarantee all undergraduates accommodation for the duration of their 3-4 year course.
We’re a catered college with subsidised meal options, and cater for a great variety of dietary requirements. Eating in our Dining Hall is encouraged and an important part of life at Cambridge.
You will be able to choose the type of room you would like in an annual room ballot, and while we can’t always guarantee you your first choice of room, you will be allocated a room which meets your needs and budget.
Your room
All Churchill College rooms contain as a minimum:
- Double bed
- Desk
- Bedside Table
- Desk Chair
- Wardrobe/drawers
- Waste bin
- Curtains
- Bedside and desk lamps
- Duvet, pillow and mattress protector
Rent and charges
Rent is billed termly in advance and includes central heating, internet access in your room, wireless internet around College, and use of facilities on-site (the gym, for example).
Other College charges are billed monthly and include food purchased in the Dining Hall and Buttery, electricity (not heating) used in your room, and printing.
Each room is banded and rents in the academic year 2023-24 range from £148.60 to £249.20 a week. Rents are determined annually, in agreement between College and student representatives.
Rent is normally payable for just 30 weeks, which covers the periods of residence dates set by the College. Termly rent is normally made for a minimum of 10 weeks. This does not include vacation periods, which are outside the 30-week periods of residence. During vacation periods and subject to availability, it may be possible for you to remain at Churchill College (though not necessarily in the same room you have during term-time).
Postgraduate Accommodation
All first year Postgraduate students are offered accommodation, and students in their second and third years can apply to live in College rooms.
Churchill College differs from most other colleges in Cambridge in the proximity of its Postgraduate accommodation to the main college site, alongside Undergraduates and Fellows.
We have various types of rooms and flats including ensuites, studios, maisonettes, and rooms in houses with shared facilities. The College has some of the best provision for students with children and partners in the University, with 45 flats and maisonettes with a children’s play area.
Large houses for Postgraduates sit around the edge of the College campus, with their own gardens and communal facilities. Rents include background heating, hot water and network access. Duvets, underblankets, and pillows are provided. Linen and towels are not provided, but required. Pans, crockery and cutlery are not provided in our shared kitchen facilities.
We have 5 off-site houses; 4 in the nearby area, and 1 near the Addenbrookes Cambridge Biomedical Campus which can be especially convenient for those studying or working there. While you are not required to live on-site, the College may have some excellent options when looking for postgraduate accommodation at Cambridge University.
We are adjacent to a number of major academic departments and research centres, and half a mile from the historic city centre. The College is on the “Universal” bus route providing a regular, subsidised and sustainable (fully electric) bus service to almost every part of the University and to the railway station and the Addenbrookes Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Students are required to sign an accommodation agreement for the period to the end of August. However, you will be given the opportunity to later shorten it to the end of June or July, if preferred.
If you want to get a feel for what our Postgraduate accommodation is like, our Postgraduate accommodation video highlights the options around our campus, including excellent provision for families and partners.
Postgraduate Accommodation within Main Buildings
Up to 28 rooms are available within the student accommodation courts on site. Each room has a small double bed and includes a washbasin. Usually, there is one bath or shower room to four rooms and a snack kitchen between eight rooms.
Prices for 2024/2025 range from £153-£171.
Storey’s Way: Number 76
By the entrance to the College site, 76 Storeys Way houses 11 Postgraduate students and is famous as the place where the philosopher Wittgenstein ended his days. There are two kitchens, three shared bathrooms and one shower room. One Fellow’s teaching room is on the ground floor. There is a herb garden and also the visual arts studio in the grounds.
In 2024/2025, rent ranges from £153-£204 per week.
Storey’s Way: Number 72
This house has 15 rooms in total. It also has its own laundry room and large kitchen with space to eat together. It also features a suite of rooms adapted for use by a wheelchair-using student. Bathroom facilities are shared other than in the disabled access bedroom and room 3.
In 2024/2025, rent ranges from £153-£204 per week.
Storey’s Way: Number 70
70 Storey’s Way shares a large garden with number 72 and houses 7 students. There is one Fellow’s teaching room also on the ground floor. There are three bath rooms, two shower rooms and three separate WCs.
In 2024/2025, rent ranges from £153-£171 per week.
Storey’s Way: Number 64 (Pinchin Riley House)
This Postgraduate house backs onto the College’s private road. It is a short walk to the central college buildings through a garden with an old orchard. It offers 15 rooms, all with wash basins, over three floors. Communal facilities include a laundry room, kitchen with separate dining and sitting areas overlooking the garden and a snack kitchen on the middle floor as well. There are five shower rooms and a store on the top floor for suitcases.
Rents for 2024/2025 range from £153-£171 per week.
Storey’s Way: Whittingehame Lodge & Whittingehame Cottage
There are 12 rooms in the Whittingehame Lodge over three floors, with a laundry area, large kitchen and sitting room for residents, opening onto the garden. There are no en-suite rooms but there are 3 shower rooms and 3 bath rooms and 2 separate WC’s.
Attached to Whittingehame Lodge is a small self-contained house called Whittingehame Cottage, with three bedrooms, a small sitting room, kitchen and downstairs bathroom. The bedrooms each have a washbasin.
Rents in 2024/2025 range from £153-£171 per week.
Storey’s Way: 36a & 36b
36a has 5 student rooms, a kitchen, a dining room with a door onto the garden and a shared shower room with separate WC.
Joined with 36a, 36b was created from an old coach house and has 6 student rooms, a shared garden, and a shared kitchen and bathroom.
In 2024/2025, rents range from £108-£153, with one ensuite room at £204.
Storey’s Way: 36c, Boyd House, Wallace House
36c, Boyd House and Wallace House are some of our newest accommodation and are all very similar.
36c has 10 rooms, all ensuite with double beds, with large kitchen and communal areas. Rent for rooms is 36c is £209 per week.
Boyd House includes 10 rooms, and 4 studio flats. Wallace House includes 10 rooms, and 1 studio flat. Rent ranges from £217 for rooms to £241 for studio flats, per week.
Churchill Road: Sheppard Flats
Located opposite the Wolfson Flats and next to the playing fields, these four flats house three students each, with a generous sitting room and kitchen and private external terraces. Heating from central boilers is included in the rent. The Sheppard flats were the first building designed by Richard Sheppard for the founding of the College and were built in 1961.
Rents for 2024/2025 range from £153-£204 per week.
Churchill Road: Wolfson Flats
Wolfson flats include 20 top-floor studio flats, and 20 two-bedroom maisonettes (ground and first floor). There is a community room and a laundry for residents and in the middle of the building is a communal garden/playground.
Priority for the maisonettes goes to students with families and to the studio flats for those with partners. The flats are not suitable for families because of size and access. Rents for 2024/25 for the Wolfson flats are £241 per week and include hot water and network. Please note that there is no lift access.
Maisonettes are generally only suitable for couples with up to two children. Additional adults may not be accommodated in them. The second bedroom has a single bed supplied as standard. If required, on request, two single beds can be supplied which can be placed end to end. Cots may be provided subject to availability. Rents for Wolfson maisonettes in 2024/25 are £315 per week and include hot water and network. Please note that there is no lift access.
There are also 5 studio flats in Wallace and Boyd Houses.
The flats and maisonettes all have a fridge, freezer and cooker and are stocked with utensils, crockery, cutlery, pillows and a duvet. Linen and towels are not provided but are required. Occupants are responsible for cleaning and pets are not allowed.
Please note that students are not permitted to bring cars to Cambridge without authorisation from their tutor and, in some cases, the University Motor Proctor.
Households where occupants include non-student partners, may be liable to pay council tax.
Single parent families: Postgraduate single parents who are finding the rent for a Wolfson maisonette financially difficult should talk to their tutor about applying for a hardship grant from the College to help alleviate any financial pressure. All applications will be considered individually, and there is no absolute scale of proposed assistance, though the College anticipates, where appropriate, making hardship grants to cover 25%-50% of the rent concerned.
Churchill Road: Bondi House, Broers House and Hawthorne House
Bondi House, Broers House and Hawthorne House were built in 2000–01 and designed by a former Churchill College student. Each has 10 ensuite bedrooms, a laundry room and a large kitchen/sitting room. All have fitted wardrobes and a shower/WC room.
Rents for 2024/25 are £204-£217 per week.
Outer Houses
There are five houses off-site reserved for Postgraduate students.
49 Oxford Road and 53 Oxford Road are terraced houses about half a mile from College. 49 Oxford Road has one en-suite bedroom and four rooms which share a shower room and WC. 53 Oxford Road has one shared shower room, a separate WC, and a sitting room. Rent for 2024/2025 is £136-£153 per week.
13 Priory Street houses five students and has a garden and a large communal kitchen with conservatory/garden room. There is one shower room with a toilet on the ground floor and one bathroom on first floor. Rent for 2024/2025 is £136-£153 per week.
11 Halifax Road is a detached house with a garden. There are four student rooms with a shared kitchen, sitting/dining room, a bathroom and shower room. Rent for 2024/2025 is £108-£153 per week.
25 Rock Road is around three miles from College and a quarter of a mile from the Addenbrookes Hospital site. This house is prioritised for clinical medical students and scientists doing research on the Addenbrookes biosciences campus. It houses eight students and has two shared bathrooms and two separate WCs. There is a shared kitchen and sitting room and washing machine. Rent for 2024/2025 is £108-153 per week.
You may also be interested in:
