By Alex Butler
Image: Unite Students
Last Monday night, Manchester Fire and Rescue services were called to Unite Students Parkway Gate, a private student accommodation block in the city centre, to attend to a fire which had broken out in a store room on the ground floor. The fire, which broke out in the late hours of the evening, was attended to quickly by rescue services, with no-one injured. It is believed the blaze was started accidentally. The building’s owners, Unite Students, cater for students across the country and have several buildings in Manchester.
In the aftermath of the incident, student residents of the building claimed that some of the high rise block’s alarms did not seem to be functioning, leaving students seemingly vulnerable. Some students have taken to twitter to declare their anger with Unite Students:
https://twitter.com/lottie_kemp/status/920172919518527488
Some have even claimed that other students had refused to believe there was a fire and failed to evacuate the building, one even claiming that a flatmate had slept through the whole ordeal.
A spokesperson from Unite Students has confirmed that the claims about inactive fire alarms were being investigated and that student safety was paramount: “The safety of our students and employees is of the utmost importance and we are currently investigating the cause of the fire with Manchester Fire and Rescue.” The fire alarms, which are connected to an internal Alarm receiving centre, is manned constantly and Unite students “routinely work closely with experts from local fire services to make sure these are effective.”
Unite Students recently closed their Sky Plaza property in Leeds over concerns of exterior cladding after the Grenfell Tower disaster. The Grenfell fire, which claimed an estimated 80 lives and injured 70 others in June, instigated a growing concern over fire safety in modern and refurbished high rise buildings.
“It was a photo that changed my life,” says Richard Davis at HOME café in the city centre. This picture is of Joy Division, taken by British photographer Kevin Cummins on Epping Walk Bridge in Hulme. The stark, steely images would go on to define the band and this part of the city’s legacy. It…
Based on Douglas Day Stewarts’ hit 80s romance, An Officer and A Gentleman takes to the Manchester Opera House stage to transport us into a timeless story of love, courage and redemption. This Curve production is a neon sensation of retro hits and escapism.
To celebrate 16 years of their music, The Maine take the road for a limited number of shows in the UK and Europe. After stops in Cologne and Amsterdam, tonight marks Manchester’s visit. Under the enigmatic ceiling of New Century Hall, a voice over the speakers orders the crowd to “adjust your enthusiasm in 5, 4, 3,…
The latest series to take Netflix by storm is the real-life story of Scottish comedian Richard Gadd. Baby Reindeer documents Gadd’s encounter with previously convicted stalker “Martha Scott”, detailing the disturbing series of events that would culminate in her eventual imprisonment.
Leave a reply