Lincoln student building with fire safety concerns to reopen next year

A student accommodation building in Lincoln is expected to reopen next year, more than two years after it suddenly closed. Around 500 students were forced to leave the Gateway in October 2022 when serious fire safety concerns were revealed.

Improvements to stop fire in stairwells were some of the changes that were recommended by consultants Tri Fire Ltd. It was claimed at the time this would take “several months”, although the building on Ruston Way still remains closed.

A spokesperson for Mapletree, the private landlord, said: “We understand that The Gateway is scheduled to reopen in 2025.” The University of Lincoln said it hoped students would be able to use the building in the near future.

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The building, which cost £28m when it opened in 2015, is currently covered in scaffolding as work continues. Students who were relocated to other properties received a £500 one-off payment for the inconvenience, and were able to leave their rental agreements if requested.

The university said in an email to students at the time: “Student safety is our utmost priority and, while other mitigation measures can manage fire safety risks in the interim, having consulted with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, we have concluded it is in the best interests of our students to vacate the building while we liaise with the building owner to make the necessary improvements.”

The eight-storey building is a mixture of studio apartments and communal flats, and is capable of housing 519 people. The reopening of the flats comes at a time when many people are being priced out of the private rented sector, and the City of Lincoln Council is struggling to keep up with demand for social housing.