The Forge Reviews

Staying here 20/21, due to Covid-19 extra security have been put on the doors and they lock all the of gates at 8pm, everyone has to exit or enter through the main entrance where we are checked to see if we live here. Security are rude and deal with a authority complex. They will enter flats without suspicion and will search for no reason. They say inappropriate comments to residents about girls being spiked. Maintenance will walk into your room after knocking once, I shouted one minute since I was fresh out the shower, he proceeded to walk in. Our roof in our flat collapsed late September, it’s November and it still isn’t fixed. Kitchen appliances are broken and we weren’t given a hoover for months. If you have a parcel coming, when you go to the reception and ask for it they will walk into the back stand there for a few seconds with no intent of even looking for the parcel and procieve to tell you it’s not there. Overall, the staff don’t act like you pay £123 a week to be there.

Usually great, will warn that the rooms look nothing like the pictures and won’t include most things that they say they do, but the reception staff are nice and happy to help with anything, they don’t use the unite app for parcels so you don’t know when you have a delivery, maintenance are alright and will come quick if it’s important but if your request isn’t serious they will completely ignore it, my radiator doesn’t work reported it in December and it still hasn’t been sorted, parking is ridiculously expensive and not worth it at all, overall not bad accommodation but there are much better cheaper accommodations

Covid-19: Not been great, Due to them not taking in post and having no email in advance I’ve not received birthday cards with money from family, a driving licence, important debt letters, and letters from my doctors, I understand them not taking parcels but a temporary post box should have been put up like other accommodations have done it is technically illegal for them to interfere with mail delivery

One word amazing! I had so many great experience within the forge. The staff there where always helpful and the cleaners wear amazing!

Decent location, maintanence always come late and not good value for money, id recomend the elements

I’m enjoying where I am living at the minute

The forge is clean, but is quite dated in the kitchen with mis-match furniture and cheap curtains. Management is not the best as the inspection was not accurate, in that the ceiling was cracked, oven fan was broken, kitchen fire door slammed and the shower drains are awful in draining the water, which was not documented. The flats are not properly maintained for the price you are paying, especially since you have to pay extra for laundry, where half of the washers are broken for about six blocks to use which can be chaotic and time consuming.

Should be a good place to live and spend your time but the management aren’t very

Fantastic location with great facilities

It was really isolating living there.

I don't think you'll ever find value for money in student accomodation so take it with a pinch of salt.

It’s a good place to stay in terms of socialising. However , the walls are so thin that you can hear nearly everything that happens upstairs and the person living next to you. Sometimes when you try and sleep you can just hear loud bass music coming from other rooms and the gym sucks. However , visually it looks good , the cleaners do a good job and so do maintenance.

Great Accomodation, the place to be

Reception staff are really good

Waste of money. Everything in old. Microwave kept setting on fire we complained 8 times they never fixed it. The oven was so old and dirty. The freezer was broken and they were like it's just the seal leave it. £10 a week just to wash clothes. The shower is so small you have to sit outside it to shave your legs. It's disgusting place that rip you off £118 a week.

Love the forge so much went back for second and third year!

Forge is a good place to live first year, right next to Aldi which is ideal for food shopping and drinks. They say the cleaners come once every 2 weeks but it has now been over 2 months since the last one came. Also maintenance requests have to be chased up in order to get fixed. But the staff on reception are lovely and really helpful, and the rooms are nice.

I commute from home but my friends stays at the forge so this is my experience at her accommodation.

Pretty good however use of common room is very limited to those who live above it for some reason.

I lived in this halls in my first year, it’s in a great location for both campuses and there is an Aldi right on my doorstep

Good hall was happy good social spect too

Very good enjoyed it and there’s a free gym!

Worst 2 years ever. Never known staff to be so useless as they were here

I loved my time living at the Forge, it truly captures what it’s like to be a student at Hallam, you meet tons of new people and there’s always someone close by who does the same course as you.

Variable depending which part of the forge you were in, seemed an average student accomodation for an above average price

Great value for money and lovely staff always on hand to help!

Great place in location only 15-20 min walk. However Wi-Fi does tend to cut out occasionally and unless you are hanging with your friends, the common room isn't used much

Disappointed in all honesty. For a start the block I am in is separate to the rest of the Forge (blocks J, K and L) which is not as well kept as the rest of the accommodation. My block is also the one directly opposite a constitution site that starts work at 8:00am every morning, which is extremely loud. When we arrived our flat was not clean, we had a pile of broken chairs from last year in the corner as well as a broken ironing board. During our first two weeks we went through a 2 day period with no water followed by a further 2 day period with no hot water. The wifi is also really unrealiable, which makes it difficult to do work. Also if you have any problems in your flat it can take ages for them to be fixed due to the site being understaffed. I wouldn’t recommend to anyone as there are accommodations in Sheffield that are a lot cheaper in price and offer better standards of student housing.

The worst. Pricey. Complicated neighbourhood. Cardboard partitions. Wifi out of service twice for more than 6 hours. Not helpful staff. E.g. someone damaged the door handle that you can't access. You will need to wait outside even the temperature below -1 for hours until the handyman comes or else no one sorts it out. E.g.2 someone attempted to break into your room and you called for help. They 'promised' their staff would come but ended up no one came. When they come, things already drove you mad, then they would suddenly charge you as they claimed they DID help without short notice.

The worst. When you're in danger, no one helps.

Overall good location near an ALDI about 15 min walk to city campus. Our flat was not fairly run down compared to others.

Modern, big kitchen and living area, average sized rooms unless you go for the upgrade. Was living in L block (K, J and L are separated from the rest)so you don't have as much of a big atmosphere, but from what I've seen they are also cleaner,newer and less noisy. Great location right next to Aldi, sainsburys and wilko, with 2 subways 2 minutes walk away and loads of places to eat on London Road, would say it's the best location after Victoria Halls. Easy to get to both campuses, only downside is that west Street (where quite a few of the big clubs are) is about half an hour walk, but a taxi will only cost you £8 and if you're sharing, which you normally would be it normally would only cost about £2. Closest club is dempseys, which may not be to everyone's taste but I've spent many a night in there until 6 am!!

Utter s***, only decent thing is the nightlife

Maintenance team are shocking, very overpriced for adequate facilities and inattentive staff

I had the best time living at the forge, although I was in block L which is separated from most other blocks, we still had a great time And there was always a party! The rooms were clean and modern, never had a problem with Internet and there was always a party somewhere! Really great, wish I was going back!

Good accommodation but not good value for money! Contractors and builders keep coming into rooms and kitchen which is annoying when u work nights and need to sleep in day !

If you are disappointed about not going on a gap-year somewhere edgy and exotic, this will be the place for you as it is an absolute shanty town.

Great rooms, very nice and cosy, nice sized kitchens with comfy sofas

Not impressed. My block door isn't even a door, wood more like!

From personal experience I've found that the forge is a pretty shoddy place to live. The wifi is awful you're expected to pay about £100 I think it was on top of your rent to get wifi that works, the car parking price is extortionate, if you have the normal shower rather than the wet room the shower is just mist, I've found that some of the reception staff are quite rude and don't really care about your experience but some are alright. The overall price of the room is literally ridiculous for what it is. If you put a request through the app they are pretty quick to respond and it is in an ideal location. They say they have cleaners once every two weeks into your kitchen but they don't do anything but the communal areas downstairs are pretty clean. Personally I would recommend looking else where for accommodation, especially at the rate that it is priced for a less than average room

Ridiculously noisy. If you are on a healthcare course with placement i would tell you to definitely avoid. Never get any sleep due to the drunken yobs outsibe from 11-5am, doors in the flat/floor slam shut and if you are near the kitchen you hear everything in there as well. There is underbed storage but you have to move the whole mattress, bedding, wooden flap and prop it up with your body to get to it. I have a wet room and the shower is great - ventilation in bathrooms is awful though. Price is ridiculous and it is even going up again this year. Cleaning is non existent in the flat, other areas are clean though. Maintence team very quick and efficient, reception are helpful and I really like the free gym (even though it is small - has all i need). Close to aldi, sainsburys and wilkos which is ideal. 20 minutes away from both campuses and 20 minutes from the train station. Overall, go elsewhere. Average accommodation for a VERY expensive price. Look at Opal 1 instead.

I've been here since September and it has been alright but I'm 100% moving into a house next year. Security is so weak that someone could follow all the way through to my flat because my block door has broken and the main reception door isn't manned. It's quite a bit more to live their than some of my other friends in the same area. the wifi is the worst thing on the planet and they maintenance team take a while to sort problems out. The things going for it are the location to both campuses and the common room/social spaces.

Good location for both campuses food shops nearby

Absolutely loved living at the forge. Nothing was too much to ask for regarding maintainance. Made loads of new friends and adored my room. Would happily live there for the whole three years of uni!

The forge is great in my personal opinion, your room is fairly spacious, kitchen is great, a nice leather corner group sofa to sit and relax with your flat, only few minutes walk from the centre and about 10 minutes from either campus, what more can you want? oh, yeah it'd be so much better with a tv.... just saying

Pretty sure the "fortnightly kitchen cleaning" hasn't ever happened in my flat. Carpets are stained & have a weird smell after being vacuumed. Blu-tack marks all over the walls look like they've never cleaned in between tenants. Limited storage for anyone who actually owns clothes and other belongings. No storage/shelving in the bathroom. Underbed storage...but you have to lift the entire mattress & bed coverings, open the flap, and use your body to prop it open just to access what's underneath. No outlets in the bathroom for appliances. Only 4 outlets in the room; all in the far corner of the desk. You have to keep curtains shut to keep the heat in. They've finally done something about the A-Block Refuse Area which was becoming a health hazard as the bins appeared to never be taken out. The noise is highest between 11pm - 4am so prepare for random screaming, elephants overhead & walls shaking from the music's bass. Pool table is always broken.

We're in C Block which has just be refurbished this year, it's really clean and the maintenance team solve any problems we have within a couple of days. It's a about a 15 minute walk from the city centre and really close to Aldi, Spar and Sainsbury's (there is a Waitrose nearby too) so there's a shop for everyone's budget! The security and reception team are always there whenever you need them and are all really friendly. The common room is colourful and clean and located next to the main laundry room when there's always at least one spare machine to do you're washing which costs less than £5 to wash and dry. If you're on ground floor I've heard it can be quite noisy but all the other floors are fine, I'm on third and we have a great view of the main courtyard. The social life is great so far! Only downsides would be rooms are slightly smaller than at Tirgon, Brammal etc, and my bed personally was really uncomfortable!

Overall the hall is good, the staff are very friendly and helpful. The actual rooms are a good size and modern. The kitchen and and living area are a good standard and size. Only negative is the wifi which is often poor and the fire alarms which like to go off for no reason now and again

great facilities and it's easy to get to know people since so many people live here

Reception are great and maintenance team aren't bad either. You're meant to get fortnightly cleaning of your kitchen but it's awful and nothing was done. I have to always clean it again after they've been. Good location for both campuses. 20 minute walk. A little bit far to walk home from clubs, compared to other accommodations such as opal 1, but still not too far. Aldi is just across the road, sainsburys just up the street with wilkos right beside it, which is ideal. It's really noisy though which is a downside. The doors in the flats bang shut. Can hear everything through the thin walls. I have a large ensuite room and it's great. At first i really didn't like the idea of a wet room, but it's awesome. So spacious! My room also has loads of storage and I can fit more than everything I need in. Even though the forge is an above average accommodation i'd say, it is nowhere near good enough for what they are charging per week. Look at opal 1 or trigon instead!!

Pretty bad in the A Block. Carpets and rooms are very warn and the WiFi is absolutely shocking. Everywhere else in the building is great. A Block need leather sofas like everyone else and new carpets.

Absolutely appalling. Overpriced would be an understatement. Furniture in kitchen areas is in very bad condition. Staff are incompetent and unhelpful in response to complaints. Very noisy, not enough fridge space. Went without a regular water supply for weeks on end with no apologies. Cleaners don't clean on a regular basis despite the advertisement. Feels very unsafe especially as security are not always on site and can take hours to respond to calls because unite don't employ enough security staff. Anyone can gain entrance to the property and doors are extremely insecure. Fire alarms go off on a regular basis with no staff presence and aren't tested. If you have a choice do NOT live here!!

Forge is s***!!! Incompetent staff, didn't have water for weeks on end with no apologies given, someone was electrocuted, say we get a cleaner but we don't, communal area in flat is a s***hole, sofas that look like they've been vomitted on, walls are full of holes and dirty marks, smallest fridge ever for a flat of 5, bathroom looks like something out of a hospital, block door was broken for months on end, could open our main door with a flyer, very insecure!! £104 a week, would be lucky if it was worth £4! Never ever ever living with unite again! Good luck if you're living here next year, you'll need it.

wifi was slow. Went to reception with a complaint but never was seen too.

I lived at The Forge with my friends for 3 years and I'm really glad I did. Yes it's a bit pricey but if you want a good sized room with en suite and good location - pay that bit more.

Too expensive for what you actually get. I also think people should be eligible to get some money back if they are not staying for the full amount of the contract. However the plus side was the social side to it.

Staff are not very good at all - never reply to emails, very slow/poor at fixing broken things and solving complains and issues Way over priced for what it is - terrible facilities, dirty rooms, carpets, furniture, halls smell horrid

So easy to meet friends, especially during freshers when everyone's pissed.

The place is nice and in a good area, nice common room with free pool /TV and stuff and some good activities eg pub quizzes. Gym is cheap only 10 for whole year but limited, rooms a re a bit small but nicer than lots of other accommodation, cleaners come every other week

Lovely loving area. Problems are solved very quickly. I would consider living there again.

Loved every minute. Great facilities, staff & location.

I've had a really good experience with the forge so far, the accomodation is easily set out and has good social spaces, which were recently refurbished. Good location for both city campus and collegiate campus of Sheffield hallam, would recommend and ive chosen to stay another year.

really really noisy most of the time, can hear everything because the walls are like paper, the shower is basically mist and if you're debating it definitely go for Trigon

Free pool is always a winner! Expensive for what you get but the social experience is good as there are a lot of students there

Great for freshers! Would not stay on after first year due to noise!

Too expensive for the quality of the rooms. Didn't enjoy my time here but the staff were always lovely

Quite pricey but overall a good experience ideal location so staying again next year.

Overall, poor. Horrendous for noise!

For £4444 there could have been so much more. The best thing here is that theres a lift, so it's useful if you need assistance for walking and great if you're on the top floor.

THIS IS A REVIEW FOR EXCHANGE WORKS IN SHEFFIELD BECAUSE I COULDNT LOCATE IT ON HERE: This is the best place to live in your first and last year. All the staff are friendly and make you feel like youre home! Also even though there is a lot of International students who dont really speak English, there is loads more UK students who do and who like to party hard! :) I booked here for all 3 of my years and regret nothing!

Great accommodation for socialising and getting some great friends

Overall i have really enjoyed the experience of living at the Forge.

Always something happening at The Forge! The social experience is amazing but not worth the money it will cost for a flat from September 2015!

I had such a bad time in this accommodation. I had flat mates which I didn't get along with and they were really loud and rude towards me. The management kept coming to speak to them but the problem only got worse. They were never made to move out even after receiving a red warming due to damaging unite property. Overall very dissatisfied with the level of service given. Save you money and commute!!

Rooms are clinical, all look the same even if you visit other Unite halls across the country, which freaks me out. Really big complex. In quite a good location but better for you if you're at collegiate campus. Pretty expensive compared to other halls.

Good location and rooms, however poor cleaning and internet. Probably not worth the money, should be priced at £95 in my opinion.

Central location, easy access to both campuses and have plenty of things around such as shops

Definitely overpriced for what you get. In a flat of five our kitchen and living space isn't enough.

It is a pile of shut, not worth the money

Overall, good 1st year student accommodation for price and location (close to Aldi, town and HALLAM). Can be quite loud at night as noise seems to echo around the buildings.. but good atmosphere and would recommend to anybody starting university.

Poor location, not good value for money.

Corridors and lift always dirty - the location is great but my room disappointing as the walls are really dirty. Fridge/freezer only 3 shelves/draws between 5 people. It's loud

Can't say a lot....bi lived in a studio room

There is a problem with vermin and the bins are always overflowing and smell. If you're at collegiate campus these are the closest halls but if you are at city campus its a bit of a walk. Security are excellent and it feels very safe; they're always really friendly

The forge is a great place to live for your first year, it's a huge student villages and lots of parties going on every night! It is close to both city and collegiate campus, so suits all students at Hallam! Unite Students couldn't do enough for their customers, so it is a really good place to live! Only downside it's one of the furthest away from the clubs/bars. But it's only a 10 minute walk to the best places! :)

great halls for first year as loads of people and partying. not so good for second and third year when you need peace and quiet as the walls / ceilings are really thin!