Sustainability and technological innovation at state of the art new college

18 September 2008

Redcar and Cleveland College have officially opened their groundbreaking 12,000m2 new premises, designed by leading public sector architects, Nightingale Associates.

Nightingale Associates were appointed by Redcar and Cleveland college to design a brand new facility that would completely replace their old college buildings and transform learning experiences for staff and students.

“The new building was designed to meet the needs of the College’s changing and diverse curriculum and to provide staff and students with up-to-date, modern facilities.

“It was also designed to provide an attractive yet environmentally sustainable structure within which to deliver a high quality learning environment for students. On top of this, the building is easy to maintain and cost-effective to run.”

Robin Ainley, Director of Nightingale Associates’ Leeds branch

The College now has a landmark presence in a prominent location, housing many compound architectural features designed to meet the College’s diverse curriculum. These include the focal ‘heart’ of the building – a large, naturally-lit central atrium space, which houses a dining area, internet café and social spaces; three floors of teaching facilities, radiating outwards from the atrium in ‘wings’; a fully-equipped learning resource centre with quiet study areas; a state-of-the-art Sports Hall designed to ‘Sports England’ standards; training and assessment facilities for the accreditation of students in national plumbing and gas-fitting qualifications; and professional-quality hair salons and beauty treatment rooms, providing training and work experience to students in commercial environments.

Looking up at the impressive skylight

Environmental sustainability was forefront to the design of the College. It contains many carefully-planned features designed to increase energy efficiency, reduce CO2 emissions and exceed current building standards. These include:

Highly effective insulation – The external walls and roof are highly insulated, with the entire external perimeter fabric being tightly air-sealed to prevent warm air escaping.
Calculated orientation – The orientation of the building and proportions of glazing were carefully calculated to make the most of natural light, in order to reduce heat-loss on cold days and retain heat on warm days.
Temperature-controlling windows – All glass is coated with a blue tint on the outside to reduce the effects of glare from strong sunlight, whilst an invisible film on the inside reflects internal radiant heat back into the rooms on colder days.
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) boiler – This not only heats the building, but also provides electrical power that is used within the building and sold to the National Grid. It also generates extra electricity for power and lighting by making use of photo-voltaic ‘solar panels’.
Natural ventilation – all of the classrooms and the main atrium are designed to achieve maximum benefit from natural ventilation.
Innovative drainage system – Rainwater falling onto the roof of the building is collected and filtered in a 40,000 litre underground tank, which can supply the College with inexpensive, recycled water. In addition, rainwater falling onto the car park falls through gaps in the special block paving and collects in a gravel-retaining bed below. This allows it to slowly percolate into the drains over a much longer time, minimising the risk of flooding during heavy rainfall.

Atrium space

The building is also equipped to provide the establishment with unique and innovative state-of-the-art 21st century technology. Some of the technological features include:

LCD display screens – Situated at key points within the building, these provide instant messaging and information services.
Classroom technology – Interactive whiteboards, audio-visual equipment, extensive data cabling and wireless connectivity ensure that learning facilities are suitably ‘future-proofed’.
Advanced security and safety technology – Programmable access cards, electro-magnetic door controls and ‘executive-style’ entrance turnstiles have taken the place of locks and keys.

Construction work on Redcar and Cleveland College began on site in January 2008 and was completed in September 2008.