David Russell Apartments
Encyclopedia
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
, its first phase being opened in September 2003. It replaces, and was built on the site of the now demolished David Russell Hall (often referred to as DRH). It is situated around twenty minutes' walk from the centre of St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, in East Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The development consists of a series of independent buildings (or houses) clustered around a central facilities building, and overlooking a man made lake, which forms part of the sustainable urban drainage scheme. Uniquely, the central facilities building's roof is topped with grass, which acts as a heat insulator during the winter and a natural cooler during the summer months. In 2006, DRA was the first university residence in the country to be awarded the Green Tourism Business Scheme's Gold Award.
David Russell Hall
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
. The original hall was built in the 1960s and comprised a series of independent blocks, or houses, connected by covered walkways and set amid gardens. The accommodation blocks were named after notable figures associated with the St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
area. At the centre of the complex was the dramatic spire-topped facilities building, incorporating the "Strachan Suite" and other amenities, such as a pool room, music room and television room. Each house was divided into a "low" and "high" section (referring to the room numbers) and shared a common room and pantry. Meals in the hall were provided in a central refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
for all residents, with out of hours meals available in the Strachan Suite café and the limited catering facilities provided in the pantries.
Construction
David Russell Hall was redeveloped in several phases, beginning with the opening of new apartment blocks to the north-east of the site in 2003. The existing buildings of the hall were gradually demolished, beginning in the summer of 2003 and all but three of the blocks were razed, making way for the new residential blocks. The current redevelopment was completed in September 2006, and has been rebranded as David Russell Apartments.The first four houses of DRA (named Scott, Lindsay, Forbes and Haig) were completed in time for the University's Martinmas semester of 2003-2004 and are situated to the immediate east of the original DRH boundary. Up until February 2004 students continued to live in the original DRH houses and shared a central facilities building called the Strachan Suite with the four new DRA houses. In 2004, all remaining residents in DRH were transferred to other student halls in St Andrews and the remaining three blocks were razed to the ground.
Building immediately commenced on the second phase which comprised Tulloch, Shairp, Herkless, Nisbet and Lang houses, followed by Haldane, Fraser and Donaldson and the new central facilities block, and was completed in time for the start of the 2005-2006 academic year. The final phase (for the time being), consisted of the construction of Eden, Dover and Hamilton houses, and was handed over from the builders in September 2006. However, cosmetic work around the site still takes place.
The majority of the names given to each of the new apartment blocks are the same as those used for the original David Russell houses. Although the University rebranded David Russell Hall as David Russell Apartments, the old name continues to be widely used, for example on service buses, maps, public signage and even at the entrance to the David Russell complex itself. On 23 February 2007, Chancellor Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
formally opened the £34.7m David Russell Apartments. The hall was praised for its state-of-the-art environmentally friendly features.
Facilities
The apartments have been built to be attractive to golfers so include en-suite bathrooms, double beds with television sets and kitchens with ovens and dishwashers, which remains an unusual 'luxury' in university residences. The University rents rooms to conference guests during the golfGolf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
ing season, and to students outside that season at 75% off the in-season price. However, some students have complained about thin walls with poor sound insulation and that the layout of the apartments within each block does not contribute to students meeting each other and making friends.
The central facilities building contains a reception and administration area, meeting rooms, gaming and music suites, a large licensed bar and self-service bistro area.