Colchester Sixth Form College unveils plans for new building

If successful, the planning application looks to remove the caretaker’s house, located on site and backing on to a residential area on North Hill and replace it with a new four-storey academic building.

The new structure will become the college’s Geography and Geology building.

The current proposal for the academic building will see nine classrooms, a staff room, breakout spaces and storage areas included in the four-storey building.

Proposed designs listed on the planning document. (Image: Plater Claiborne)

Within each of the four floors there will be a mixture of teaching space, storage, exhibition space and circulation areas, maximising the use of each area.

Sensitive to the unique, historic building designs featured along North Hill, the proposal seeks to develop a building which responds to the character and context of the area.

Proposed design listed on the planning document (Image: Plater Claiborne)

Blending with the area’s design, a three gabled approach has been earmarked, inspired by the local architecture.

The proposed building’s elevations will not be uniform and will vary depending on the character.

Areas of the structure will be clad in a variety of materials from carefully selected, sustainable sources.

The proposed architecture is sensitive to the existing buildings on the site, which vary from Roman wall, Medieval timber framed, Edwardian era, arts and crafts and more recent, electric buildings on the campus.

A look at the current site. (Image: Google Maps)

Noting the importance of blending several architectural styles at once, the heritage impact assessment states: “The proposed new building would reinforce the urban nature of the area, making reference to the buildings nearby or North Hill in terms of scale, massing and detailing, but in an honest contemporary language.

“It neatly bridges the domestic scale and appearance of the nearest listed buildings and the size and function of the college buildings in a way that is appropriate for the urban context of the site.”

The sixth form college was founded in 1987, following the relocation of the Gilberd School, which formerly occupied the site.

There are currently 3,250 full-time students at the college. Of them, approximately 3,200 are following two-year A-level or equivalent courses.

Adrian Frost, assistant principal and head of admissions at the college, said: "Whenever opportunities present themselves, we try to further develop the facilities available to our students.

"In this case, if appropriate government funding is made available, we hope to explore further the possibility of rebuilding and extending an existing structure to provide further teaching and workshop space, largely to provide extra specialist facilities for existing students."