Designed by architects Watkins Gray International for the Balfour Beatty led LEP Transform Islington Limited, the college is commissioned as part of the second phase of Islington’s BSF programme. Spanning 1,700 square metres, the New River College is named after the river that runs in that area of Islington. The three-storey facility is shaped like a ‘T’ and is designed to consolidate and replace three separate Pupil Referral Units located in the Borough. It will provide education and training to young people who are permanently excluded from a school place, relocating the existing Stage 3 and 4 provisions into a single purpose built facility accommodating 78 pupils.
The design brief required the space to portray an open, civic image, in contrast to a traditional school. The facility features a wide frontage with the entrance designed as a fully accessible window to the college to reflect the core values of the facility, thus creating a transparent and welcoming building. The elevations of the facility are deliberately designed to reflect the regular rhythms of the nearby terraced housing and the contemporary forms of the modern housing social care and academic buildings located nearby.
The facility has been designed to ensure that efficient passive student supervision is achieved through the staff areas being divided across all floors in view of common and circulation spaces. It includes a main reception on the ground floor in sight of the lobby, exhibition area, dining, the main staircase and corridor, with staff room on the first floor, and staff office accommodation on first and second floors.
The building is also designed to a regular structural grid system, with all teaching spaces on the first and second floors designed to a modular size. They can also be easily adapted and reallocated to suit curriculum changes by simple relocation of partitions. The new facility will include practical teaching spaces for music, art, food technology and science, while a purpose built hall will serve assembly, sport and performance functions.
Administration and communal facilities are located on the ground floor, along with a vocational teaching area that also features a public interface. The external space is divided into three parts, a parking and service area, a general play area featuring direct access to dining, and a more secluded therapy garden.
New River College is designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating, and will incorporate a large array of photovoltaic cells on the bio-diverse roof. The facility will be built on the site of a Victorian Board School.
Balfour Beatty is the contractor for the project. New River College is expected to be completed by September 2012.
