A new school set to take over a former police station is to utilise many of its original features – with prisoner’s doors to be converted into magnetic classroom pin boards and old oil drums turned into a lily pond.

Blueprints for the new primary school were revealed this week after formal planning permission was lodged with Brighton and Hove City Council.

The former Hove police station, in Holland Road, is set to be converted into a 480- pupil school.

Based on green principles, designers have revealed their urge to reduce the amount of “structural alterations” and “recycle” as many of the existing fixtures and fittings as possible.

As well as using the prison doors for pin boards, the former cells are to be turned into classrooms with 16 planned in total.

The former main entrance and reception, which would have seen criminals arrive for questioning, will be revamped to provide a secure facility next to the new reception area.

The site’s old garages, which just a few months ago were home to police cars and vans, will house pupils’ bikes and scooters along with recycling.

However there will be completely new features with a garden at the southern end of the site with “raised plant beds” and “two apple trees”.

The garden’s centre-piece lily pond however will again be “recycled” from the site’s “existing oil tank”.

This proposed new feature, designers suggest, will encourage “wildlife, such as frogs and dragon flies as well as form an exciting teaching space for local children”.

The four storey building is designed to accommodate a form for each floor.

On each there will be four classrooms, toilets, storage and access to the communal hall space.

There are also plans for a new kitchen area, staff room and library.

The Argus:

Much of the building has little access to natural light including the main hall.

Designers have therefore suggested introducing colourful translucent panels.

The police station was built in the early 1960’s at the same time as the nearby law courts. The new school is set to be a satellite centre for the West Hove Junior School and is hoped to ease the problem of overcrowding in the west of the city.

The council’s planning committee is set to decide on the proposal by September 17.