New College Durham
ClientNew College Durham
LocationDurham
Project TypeCollege
Value£35m
Area26,750sqm
Consolidation of the college from two split sites onto one fully redeveloped site.
The radical solution provides a flexible, vibrant, stimulating, unified single environment, a campus under one roof.
Conceived as a single building with two internal streets, the college adopts an industrial aesthetic with its use of aluminium cladding and exposed in situ concrete structure and expressed stair pods.
Creating commercial environments for vocational students and exposing them to real life work environments was critical to the success of the project. Functions such as the refectory, shop and hair and beauty salons are accessed from the ground floor of the atria from the main building – like a real street or shopping mall.
Through a highly complex arrangement of construction and demolition the development was phased on a live densely developed site to allow the college to continue to deliver its full curriculum throughout the project.
“The project was completed on time and on budget. The resultant buildings were exactly as expected by the client and this was to a large extent due to the fact that the architects took the time to talk to a large cross section of college staff to determine our exact requirements.”
