The new building construction involved the demolition of all existing buildings excluding the Reigate School of Art & Design. It also involved the creation of a new main access into the site from London Road. The new building project has been funded in part by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).
The new building is designed to house facilities for students studying art design and media; hair and beauty; construction; engineering; public service; health and childcare; sport; business and supported learning. It also includes a sports hall, gym, a two-storey learning resource centre and landscaped horticulture and summer gardens.
Gary Phelps at Archial stated that the design and specification of East Surrey College involved arranging buildings around a three-storey internal winter garden spanning 800 square meter. This helps in allowing natural light into the interiors of the building. The building is also connected to an external summer garden providing quality social space all year round.
Designed to be fully accessible and DDA compliant, the building provides flexible and versatile teaching spaces that optimise natural daylighting. Glazed screens in the classrooms provide the building with a light and open feel. The curved zinc-clad three-storey block contains the learning resources centre and administration area. The building is outfitted with translucent cladding panels, employed for the first time in the UK, which helps in achieving excellent thermal insulation values besides allowing high levels of natural daylight into the building.
A number of sustainable features incorporated into the building design are: rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, a green roof, a wood chip fuelled biomass boiler and solar panels. The building has been honoured with BREEAM-‘very good’ rating.
