The Henley College - Deanfield Digital Skills and Enterprise Hub
Introduction
The Henley College is located in Henley, Oxfordshire it was formed in 1987 from the merger of the prior South Oxfordshire Technical College and the Henley 6th Form. Offering a range of both academic and vocational courses, the Sixth Form College operates over their two sites of Rotherfield and Deanfield.
Carrying out further studies that would enable the potential for land disposal across the two sites, in order to raise capital to reinvest in the college. This involved – in partnership with architects APLB, the creation of massing drawings, organising relevant surveys and submitting a preplanning application for the local council.
Subsequently in 2018 and 2019 PMc have project managed a number of refurbishment works.
Overview
In consideration of levels of underutilised space and site composition from Victorian, grade A listed to 1980 builds, PMc were initially approached by the College in 2017 to develop an Estates Strategy and long-term plans for the two campuses. This was developed with attention to provision for both planned growth and financial sustainability. Following the approval of the Estates Strategy, PMc were retained as the Colleges’ client advisors to project manage the next phase of works which have comprised the creation of STEM spaces in a number of existing buildings.
Key Facts
Heading #1 | |
|---|---|
Start on site | June 2020 |
Completion date | August 2020 |
Refurbishment Area (m²) | 400m² |
Total Project Budget | £375,000 |
Funder | OxLEP |
Architects | PMc |
Cost Consultants | PMc |
Project Manager, Employer’s Agent, Bid Writers | PMc |
Main Contractor | LTS Projects Ltd |
The Projects Objectives were:
- 661m2 of refurbishments across the two sites;
- 288m2 creation of a Digital & Creative Arts Hub to improve access between the Rotherfield site and the R4 arts buildings, with further provision of a mac suite, sculpture garden and digital arts facilities;
- D1 Deanfield refurbishment to create a 373 m2 modern, spacious Digital Skills & Enterprise Hub, named the ‘Cuthbert Suite’. Located near the campus entrance this new space provides a flexible study space with a digital skills café, careers services, pop-up enterprise space and larger digital skills teaching space to support student engagement with future career opportunities.
Testimonials
“I would like to thank you and your team for helping us to deliver our vision which we set out in January 2017 – PMc have guided us well with our development plans to deliver parts of the vision in a different way to our original plan. It has been a pleasure working with you and your partners to have had the projects delivered well on time, within budget and with the least inconvenience to staff and students.”
Satwant Deol, Principal
“I just wanted to send my thanks for giving the art department an amazing new space and facilities to work from. I went for a walk around today and I have seen the final images and it all looks incredible. It is an ideal space for the art department – the students are going to love being up there.
It is a great asset to the department as well as the college and I am very grateful to you all. Thanks for the hard work and commitment that has been put into setting it up for the area. These rooms along with the new Mac suit will give students and staff the perfect foundation to build on the creative arts area and move it forward.
I’m very excited to see it all being used this year.”
Sarah Wilson, Curriculum Leader for Creative Industries
“I am pleased that with PMc’s support and vision, the projects from last and this summer have delivered on all of the above and importantly are excellent solutions
I have been told by a number of staff and governors, that projects in the past failed to deliver to the same standards as these recent ones, so we should be pleased with our collective performance, but also that we’ve set a high standard and improved the level of confidence amongst stakeholders in our ability to deliver successful projects.”
Ashok Patel, Interim Director of Finance and Operations
“I just wanted to say thank you to you both for the new media suite. I appreciate the amount of work and money that has gone into it and I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am. It is the most gorgeous room, it’s going to be amazing. I can’t wait to start teaching in it. Thank you so much for your support and for everything.”
Sarah Wilson, Curriculum Leader for Creative Industries
Project Team
Media
