ADP’s Jubilee Building for Barking & Dagenham College (BDC) recently opened. The building was completed to the College’s specification and includes the only Gazelle Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) Centre in London.
The Government has long identified STEM education as a major priority at secondary and further education level. The Centre was officially opened by Carol Vorderman MBE in the presence of invited guests including David Wilson, deputy director at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The Gazelle STEM Centre represents a departure from traditional classroom design to a more flexible approach, where spaces can be used for a variety of teaching styles and age groups. ADP helped the College to realise its vision by creating flexible, curved and free-flowing spaces where STEM subjects can be learnt.
BDC’s regional Gazelle STEM Centre can be used independently from the Jubilee Building, allowing local schools to benefit from its facilities. The Centre’s stimulating setting allows learning to take place in a fun, engaging and creative environment.
In addition to the Gazelle STEM Centre, the Jubilee Building also provides a double height Learning Resource Centreopen to the public, anart gallery space, a maths hub, a plumbing academy and executive suite offices. Students benefit from new industry-standard workshops and training spaces, including kitchens where trainee chefs and bakers prepare dishes for paying customers of the Chef’s Hat, the on-campus commercial restaurant, and for sale in the adjacent café.
Student Enterprise Outlets are located along the main façade, designed to accommodate student-owned micro ‘pop-up’ businesses to help promote entrepreneurial opportunities within the college and complement the local area’s business offer.
With significant “curb appeal” the project has transformed the College’s Rush Green campus, creating an impressive and vibrant frontage that draws students and visitors into an open and airy entrance way where light streams in. Externally, a series of brightly coloured vertical fins unite the existing public face with the new build, presenting a more transparent façade that showcases student work and activities to the wider community. At night these fins are illuminated to provide a distinctive and welcoming environment.
Cathy Walsh, Principal and CEO at BDC commented: “ADP has interpreted our initial student design concepts, fleshed out our ideas and brought them all to fruition; they have been responsive to change in design elements, provided an innovative design and professional service – and they have embraced student feedback, superbly.”
BDC is a Gazelle College, one of only 20 in the UK. The Gazelle Colleges Group is transforming further education, developing new commercial learning models and innovative partnerships with business, to equip students with the skills to be creative and resilient in the workplace.
Following the successful delivery of the Jubilee Building, ADP has been commissioned to deliver a STEM Centre for the City of Oxford College and is now working on further projects for Barking & Dagenham College including a Digital Hub.
Photographs by Andy Spain: www.asvisual.co.uk