Gateway Sixth Form College, Leicester

Gateway College is a highly-sustainable new-build college campus in Leicester, masterplanned by Nightingale Associates in 2005.

Commissioned in 2007 to provide full architectural services for this project, our designers created a solution that incorporates a triple-height atrium with all teaching, administration and ancillary accommodation located within ‘wings’. The atrium acts as the primary circulating route whilst containing dining and social space, designed to encourage a living ‘heart’.

The college has been committed to producing a building that minimises carbon footprint. Nightingale Associates integrated a number of affordable and innovative environmental solutions into the design, many of which are on display as part of the ‘visible sustainability’ concept, which encourages students to take a proactive approach to environmental issues.

These include:

56000 litre ‘grey water’ tank to reduce mains
water consumption
15 metre wind turbine
biomass boilers
natural ventilation systems
intelligent lighting
south-facing entrance covered in PV cells to capture maximum sunlight.

The new college opened in time for the new academic year in August 2009.