£130m college plans announced

10:00am Saturday 19th July 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

An architect is returning to the college he attended in the 1970s - to take charge of its £130 million redesign.

David Bickle studied architecture at Chichester College and is now the head of Hawkins Brown, the firm in charge of transforming its campuses.

The college unveiled its radical new plans this week, including major new buildings and classrooms on its main campus in Westgate Fields, costing £100 million.

Its Brinsbury Campus, in North Heath, Pulborough, will also be entirely refurbished at a cost of £30 million.

Students at the campus, which hosts a number of rural courses, regularly win awards at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Principal Dr Richard Parker said: ³We are delighted with the plans, developed by our architects Hawkins Brown, to create a world class campus with buildings designed for the 21st Century, where the latest technology and teaching facilities are available to staff and students.

³Chichester College attracts students from across Sussex, the UK and worldwide.

³To continue to be so successful we need to offer all our students an outstanding learning environment. This redevelopment enables us to do this.² Many of the college¹s buildings on both campuses were built in the 1960s and 1970s and have been branded ³unfit for purpose² by staff.

A new ³high status² building will be created at the western end of the Chichester campus.

Inside will be new salons, restaurants and performance spaces.

Departments currently located on the Terminus Road industrial estate will also be put back on the main campus.

Major landscaping will also be carried out along with improved accessibility.

The college wants to improve its energy efficiency and has planned alternative sources, including bio-mass boilers, solar panels, and anaerobic digesters to compost waste.

A Chichester College spokesman said: ³The college plans to submit its planning application in the autumn and to start preparatory work in the summer of 2009.

³The campus will undergo a significant amount of change as very few buildings are fit for purpose and therefore there will be a wide scale programme of building.

³The amount of space available at Brinsbury means there will be a limited impact on day to day operations because, in most cases, it should be possible to complete the new buildings before demolishing those currently in use.

³Completion of the work at Brinsbury is planned for the summer of 2011.² The college hopes to complete work at the main campus by 2013.

Exhibitions of all the plans are going on display at the Chichester campus main reception.

The College is also holding a meeting at the Chichester campus open to the public on July 21 at 6pm.

For more information about education in your area visit theargus.co.uk/localinfo