Volume Works, birmingham

Just don’t bother. Yet to speak to one other resident here that has had a good experience. Front door has been broken for over 6 months. No security or management on site when needed. And the worst part is the management, this has changed 3 times within this academic year that has not even ended and they threaten you with bailiffs without trying to make contact with you or your guarantor first, because they can’t keep track of your rent payments after switching countless times. When you communicate serious issues you are met with no response. The only thing they keep on top of is trying to collect rent payments and you can’t even trust them to do that sensibly. You have people knocking at your door in the evening asking why you haven’t sent £1k to their new dodgy bank account.

Where do I even begin with Volume Works. I’m writing this because my experience aligns closely with many of the negative reviews already on here, and I wish I had taken more heed of them before moving in. Unfortunately, everything people warn about is true. I moved into my room unaware that there was mould present. It was not immediately obvious, and I only discovered it after living there for nearly two months. When I raised this, the response was incredibly disorganised and dismissive. At the time, there were no permanent on-site staff, no proper cleaning products available, and I was even told that vinegar could be used as a solution. After raising the issue, it still took over a month for anything to be done. The eventual “fix” was simply applying silicone rather than addressing the underlying cause. Throughout this entire period, I continued paying full rent for a room that was clearly not in an acceptable condition. I was also offered a move to a smaller room than the one I was paying for, which felt unreasonable given that the issue was not my fault. During this time, I experienced skin irritation and discomfort, which I believe may have been linked to the conditions in the room. What made the situation worse was the complete lack of accountability. I was repeatedly passed back and forth between the landlord and the management team. No one took ownership of the issue. It got to the point where I had to physically track staff down and became visibly distressed just to receive the smallest acknowledgement. Even then, the overall attitude felt very much like “tough luck”. There was no genuine apology or sense of care until I explicitly complained about how poorly the situation had been handled. There were also ongoing hygiene and maintenance issues in shared areas, concerns with security as chairs have been used to keep the entrance open, rubbish being left in stairwells for days at a time. Combined with the lack of consistent staff presence, this made the building feel neglected rather than professionally managed. For the price of £209 a week being charged, this level of maintenance, communication, and care is completely unacceptable. I expected transparency, basic standards of hygiene, and accountability, none of which were consistently met. I would strongly encourage prospective tenants to read the negative reviews carefully before booking, as my experience mirrors them almost exactly.

Had a great experience at volume works and the team (especially Neil) made moving in seamless! Would definitely recommend! Thanks Volume.

This place is actually disgusting. I wouldn’t wish living here on anyone. The way they try to market it like it’s luxury student living is a straight-up scam & anyone leaving 5 star reviews is genuinely lying. Parcels go missing constantly and no one does anything about it. There’s no reception, no staff, no one to help and you’re just expected just to deal with it. There’s been multiple incidents of homeless individuals walking in because there’s no proper security and all they do is send emails about the matter instead of putting any action in place. The outside looks like a dump, bins overflowing, rubbish all over the pavement, and no one ever comes to clean it. The lifts are always breaking, so you just find out when climbing five flights of stairs. There’s constantly alarms the go on for hours sometimes even days. If your room doesn’t have air con, it’s actually a nightmare because they charge extra for air con rooms like it’s some luxury feature when it should be standard, mind you, you’re paying 10K 😀. The plug sockets are literally coming out the walls and everything just feels cheap and rushed. The staff don’t care. Once they’ve got your money, you’re on your own. No accountability, no help, the whole place is poorly managed. You genuinely couldn’t give me any amount of money or discount to stay in the dump again ON GOD.

Don't make the serious mistake of booking this accommodation. Yes the rooms are nice, interior and exterior are lovely, However, when it comes to serious issues they shown no sign of urgency. No matter if you're locked out, fire alarm has been going off for hours, packages have been stolen, homeless people sneaking in. Nothing is done. They do not take any action and neglect everyone. Staff is unprofessional and laugh in your face when you are clearly in distressed. Do not waste your time or money.