London South Bank Colleges

PMc were first appointed by Lambeth College in 2015 to develop a new estate strategy for the College.  This identified a substantial excess of space across its three sites at Clapham, Vauxhall and Brixton as well as the need to address the poor condition across the entire estate.

We were subsequently appointed in 2016 as the client representative of the Brixton Campus (which was a DfE-led redevelopment). This project involved a land sale to the DfE with Lambeth College then taking a share in a new-build education campus alongside  Trinity Academy (a Free School) and a new UTC sponsored by London South Bank University. Our PMc initial role was to manage the decant of the existing college learners into temporary accommodation in December 2015 to enable work to start on the new build site in January 2016. In 2017 we managed the appointment of an internal fit-out design team led by STEM architects.  We subsequently managed the procurement of Gilbert Ash as a specialist fit-out contractor who started on site in June 2017 and completed their £2.5m construction fit out programme in just 12 weeks – ready for the start of the new academic year.

In 2018 and 2019 we worked with the College to refine and develop the estate strategy’s vision for the Vauxhall site and submitted what would be a successful bid to the Greater London Authority (GLA). This bid secured £25m towards the creation of a new 10,000m² £50m STEAM centre with a curriculum aimed at meeting future skills needs in engineering, construction, dentistry, science, digital technologies and the arts.

We also supported the Lambeth College and London Southbank University in the development of a comprehensive estate strategy that formed a key part of the merger proposal between of Lambeth College in to the university family. This further consolidated previous plans – resulting in a strategy to create a new technical college at Nine Elms and two community facing college centres at Clapham and Brixton.

In 2020 we were appointed Project Manager and Employer’s Agent for the construction and build out of the scheme at Nine Elms. Jointly designed by Architecture PLB and Rock Townsend Architects and delivered by GRAHAM for the client, South Bank Colleges, this flagship Technical College is a true testament to collaborative working and extensive engagement with stakeholders delivering an education-led, transformational learning environment, which inspires students, responds to employers’ skills shortages, meets staff requirements and is adaptable to the curricula of the future. The client team included Peter Marsh Consulting as Employers Agent and Contract Administrator; Fulkers Bailey Russel as Cost Consultants; and, Rock Townsend as Design Guardians.

In February 2021, we were delighted to announce the start of the construction of the new STEAM Centre for London South Bank Technical College. The project achieved practical completion in January 2023 and was officially opened on Monday 26 June 2023.