Residential and Catering Service Division awards and memberships

The teams celebrated winiing the award for 'University Team of the Year' at the Student Accommodation Awards 2023.

The  Values in Practice (VIP) Awards provide an opportunity to celebrate professional services staff who have shown outstanding contribution or commitment to the School.

Staff in the Residential and Catering Services Division were nominated across several categories for the 2021 awards, with many nominations for team of the year and exceptional team member. For more information about the scheme and to celebrate some of the winners, visit: Values in Practice Awards and Champions in challenging times blog.

VisitEngland assesses the quality of holiday accommodation in England. Our halls or residence were last assessed in 2017, when all eight of them maintained their three-star rating. 

More information: VisitEngland - ratings 

In 2023, the Residential and Catering Services Division was re-accredited with the putting the Customer First standard. This means we've reached the three key milestones of the standard: building customer relationships, maximising market awareness and developing our people.

Assessor quotes from the 2023 reports

“Everyone within RCSD should be proud of their achievements. They remain focussed on serving their customers and students throughout, demonstrating a clear commitment to meeting the needs of their clients.

RCSD listens to its customers and uses feedback to improve its service wherever possible, whilst also recognising that this can only be achieved through the ongoing support and development of its team."

More information: Customer First

Green Impact is a national environmental award scheme for departments to reduce their environmental impact.

• All eight LSE managed halls of residence won NUS Green Impact Silver awards for their environmental projects.
• Central catering received two NUS Green Impact Gold awards at LSE Garrick and at Café 54 for their projects involving recycling and vegetarian and vegan diets. 

More information: NUS Green Impact 

View the online ratings for our vacation accommodation. Search for our properties on:

• Agoda
• Booking.com
• Expedia 

The Good Egg Award recognises companies that use, or have committed to use, cage-free eggs or egg products. We received a Good Egg Award in 2010, for ensuring that we only use free-range eggs in our catered halls and in the catering outlets on campus.

Visit: Good Egg Award 

In 2015 we first submitted our brief to the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) and in 2017 retained their two-star rating. In 2018 we were awarded a three-star rating for four catered halls and the three main restaurants on campus. Subsequently we have maintained a 3-star rating at the 2022 audit and have submitted the evidence for continued re-accreditation in 2024.. 

More information: The SRA

The Soil Association wants to make good, environmentally friendly produced food the easy choice for everyone. In 2017, our catered halls Bankside House, Carr-Saunders Hall, Passfield Hall and Rosebery Hall achieved the Food for Life Served Here - Silver Award. The LSE Garrick received a Bronze Award in 2018 and the Shaw Cafe in 2019. We have maintained these silver and bronze awards at subsequent audits and were re-accredited with Bronze in 2024 for the LSE Garrick and Shaw Cafe. In 2024 we have submitted our evidence for the Silver Award accreditation in our four catered halls. 

More information: Soil Association

Developed by Universities UK and GuildHE, the Student Accommodation Code is designed to make sure students get the best out of their time living in university or college residences.The code outlines important details about our responsibilities as a university accommodation provider.

The six main areas of the code are:

1. a healthy safe environment
2. timely repairs and maintenance
3. a clean, pleasant living environment
4. a formal, contractual relationship with the university or college landlord
5. access to health and well-being services
6. a living environment free from anti-social behaviour

For more information, visit: Accommodation Code of Practice

There's a dedicated website for students: Student Accommodation Code

TUCO is the leading professional membership body for in-house caterers in the higher and further education sector. They commit to advancing the learning and developing of catering and hospitality teams. They also provide quality standards, advice, and information to people working in the sector.

We are an active member of TUCO and use the TUCO purchasing framework agreements. This means our suppliers are nominated and regulated, and environmental and sustainability issues are embedded into tendering specifications. 

More information: TUCO

CUBO are a professional membership organisation for senior managers in higher education, who have responsibility for an institution's commercial business (especially catering, residences, conference facilities, leisure and tourism). They help their members to deliver excellence, lead the way on new initiatives, connect in effective networks and develop skills and knowledge.

More information: CUBO

We're members of the Association for Student Residential Accommodation (ASRA). ASRA promotes and supports the professional activities of members to help promote good standards in accommodation provision. They're providing a network for member institutions to share information, best practice and innovative ideas during the annual training conference and regional and national meetings and training events.

More information: ASRA

ACUHO-I is a professional association and network for colleagues working in residential life in the higher education sector. As members we are able to share in their national professional development programms, annual and speciality conferences and take part in the summer graduate internship programme.