London & South East

£5m makeover for Northbrook College

Northbrook CollegeAn exciting college revamp at the Broadwater campus of Northbrook College in Broadwater Road, Worthing, is well underway. The project began in December 2010 and is expected to be completed in mid December of this year.

The £5m project will see the demolishment of what the college describes as ‘unsightly and sub-standard huts’ and the construction of a new building, which will be home to a new entrance and reception area, classrooms and a training salon for hair and beauty courses. The training hair and beauty salons, including the nail salon, will be available for general public use as part of the range of facilities that the College currently offers.

Main contractors for the project are VINCI Construction Ltd, and the architects are ECE Architecture.  The majority of the new funding will be paid for by £4 million of long-term borrowing and a £1 million grant from the Skills Funding Agency.

Under the scheme, the main entrance of the college has been relocated. An atrium reception has been constructed, which is attached to the new build, which itself is a three-storey, 11m high concrete frame structure. Comprising around 1500 sq m of floor space, the building houses hairdressing rooms on the ground floor, beauty salons on the first floor, and teaching and computer facilities on the top floor. There are twelve rooms altogether, along with the necessary toilet facilities.

Interestingly, the scheme has also incorporated a separate ‘sustainability building,’ which showcases modern ways of sustainability. The building itself has also utilised sustainable methods, including a green Sedum roof and cedar cladding. Indeed, the entire new build is expected to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard.

Exterior landscaping has comprised the replacing of trees and hedging, along with a student-friendly area of grass and seating at the rear of the building. There are no significant changes to the car parking arrangements on site.

Simon Brodrick, College Project Manager, said: “Every new building has interesting design features, however the way in which the atrium area manages to combine the new structure with the old structure really makes this building stand out. All the consultants have worked very well together and have produced an excellent scheme in a very short period of time.”

Northbrook College is one of the largest educational establishments in Sussex, with approximately 1000 staff and 16000 full and part time students. Northbrook has two campuses in Worthing and a campus at Shoreham Airport.

Northbrook was formed in 1986 when the West Sussex College of Art and Design (founded in 1912) merged with two other colleges: Worthing College of Technology and Chelsea College of Aeronautical Engineering (founded in 1924).

MB Hepburn Ltd

BM Hepburn limited is a family run business and has been established for 44 years. We currently have a workforce of around 70 people all of which are NVQ qualified. We work all over Sussex, Kent and parts of Surrey, trying to stay within a 60 mile radius of Eastbourne. Please look on our website www.bmhepburnltd.co.uk for a full introduction to our services.

The company is run by brothers Matthew and Jack Hepburn having taken over from their father Brian.

We carry out all aspects of drylining, metal stud partitioning, suspended ceilings (mf type and lay-in), Metsec external walling, wet plastering, external rendering (to include traditional, through coloured  and insulated systems), floor screeding (traditional and flowing), coving and cornicing and also operate a small decorating division. On top of these services we have recently started offering USG Level-5 spray finishing system, receiving very positive reviews.

BM Hepburn Limited are listed as approved installers of numerous products i.e Weber (external rendering systems), Ardex (quick drying floor systems).

BM Hepburn Limited pride themselves on providing a well organised and quality service. We have worked successfully in conjunction with Vinci Construction, and wish them every success for the future.

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