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Planning Approval for College of North West London New Campus Plans

23 August 2023

Design: WilkinsonEyre Architects

Location: College of North West London, Wembley, England

Images by WilkinsonEyre Architects

Brent Council Resolves to Grant Planning Approval for College of North West London New Campus Plans

A proposal by College of North West London to build a state-of-the-art new college campus on Olympic Way in Wembley, London has passed another milestone as Brent Council ‘resolved to grant planning permission’ at the Council’s Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday 12th July. The plans have now been passed to the Greater London Authority for final approval. The building design is by British architects WilkinsonEyre.

Should the plans get the green light, the world class education facility will be constructed on the site of the Olympic Office Centre in Wembley, and will be developed into an innovative, exciting, and sector leading centre of education. The project to build the new campus comprises a total investment of over £130m and will cater for over 3000 students per week and 250 staff.

A team from United Colleges Group, which brings together College of North West London and City of Westminster College, has been working hard, behind the scenes to secure planning approval for this site for the new campus building.

Once complete, the new facility will bring jobs to Wembley and the wider Brent area, and will offer opportunities to young people and adults of all ages to improve their skills, advance their careers, and gain valuable experience aligned to the world of work.

Green skills, including engineering and the built environment, will a key area of focus for the ambitious new facility which will also offer classes in digital technology, computing, and health and social care subjects fully supporting all new T-Level qualifications.

Students with supported learning requirements and those for whom English is a second language will also find themselves with a wide range of opportunities to choose from.

The United Colleges Group is proud to be bringing this brand-new development to the local area and reaffirms its commitment to playing a full, active, and productive part in the Brent area and the city as a whole.

Stephen Davis, Group Principal and CEO of the United Colleges Group, said: “I am pleased to be able to announce the United Colleges Group’s ground-breaking plans for a world-class education facility at the heart of our community are now within reach. With Brent Council’s decision, we are one step closer to delivering a facility that will meet the skills needs of London and Londoners.

“Our new site delivers more education, training, and skills opportunities for our students and will provide the community with an important place to work and learn.

“With its focus on technical qualifications including green skills and technology, we are also pleased to say that our new location will enable us not just to provide a boost to the present generation but will do so for many generations to come I would also like to thank our Project Management team Bidwells for their support in getting us to this significant milestone.”

Nick Petit, Senior Partner at Bidwells planning consultants, commented “Achieving planning consent marks the culmination of several years of strategic planning by UCG. Bidwells have been alongside the college in all of the twists and turns that make development projects so interesting yet frustrating.

“We are delighted that with the support of the design team, the local authority, central government, and various funding bodies, this milestone has been achieved.

“Securing consent goes a long way to rebuilding the quality of educational facilities needed in Brent and this project is one we are proud to have helped with.”

Stafford Critchlow, Director at WilkinsonEyre Architects, said: “We are pleased that the team’s shared commitment to good design will give this prominent site the architecture it merits; making a confident statement about the value placed on education and skills in Brent, and offering a template for provision across London.”

College of North West London for United Colleges Group – Architectural Description

The new eight storey FE College of 14,000sqm sits on a prominent corner of Olympic Way, the main route leading to Wembley Stadium. It will serve the burgeoning residential population of the Quintain masterplan development that surrounds it as well as fulfilling a wider 16-18 years and adult educational need for the people of Brent.

The bold architectural concept organises the diverse and potentially conflicting range of college activities – from construction skills via ESOL English teaching to health and beauty – and expresses them in a series of identifiable horizontal layers. These are linked with highly visible vertical circulation through a linear atrium that rises through the full height of the centre of the building. Heavy duty construction engineering workshops are at the base of the building with visibility onto Olympic Way, escalators being used to whisk the main student cohort up to the 2nd floor concourse: here are student services, cafeteria and a tv studio as well as a large outdoor amenity deck with views up to the Wembley Arch.

The five floors above are mixed mode flexible arrangements of classrooms and social study spaces that will be naturally ventilated with decentralised mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. On the third floor is an integrated but discrete PMLD**(Profound and Multiple Leaning Difficulties) unit that will tread a careful line between inclusion and separateness – something the College already manages on its site at Willesden – and a Learning Resource Centre. Particular attention has been given to vertical circulation with computer modelling of the pulses of student movement through the day accounted for via both lifts and escalators as well as open stairs.

The top floor has senior management team accommodation, staff areas generally being distributed on each floor through the building. Working with Max Fordham and Eckersley O’Callaghan engineers the WE design will exceed the 35% reduction in carbon emissions required by the London Plan 2021 and BREEAM version 6 – calculations being based on GLA Energy Assessment Guidance released in June 2022.

WilkinsonEyre

New Campus Plans for College of North West London, England images / information received 230823

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