On Friday (18/11/11) the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh opened the new £43 Million East Surrey College building, designed by architects Archial - part of the global Ingenium Group of companies.

Archial has worked with East Surrey College since the initial feasibility studies to bring together two campuses to create a new 18,000 sq m campus building arranged over five storeys, dramatically improving the facilities offered by the College. The new building links seamlessly to an existing 3,500 sq m building which was completely refurbished as part of the works

The new building includes facilities for students studying: art design and media; hair and beauty; construction; engineering; public service; health and childcare; sport; business and supported learning. It also houses a sports hall, gym, a two storey learning resource centre and landscaped horticulture and summer gardens.

Ross Bridgman at Archial said: "The design and specification of East Surrey College is a response to the needs of governors, managers, staff and students alike. The College is arranged around a three storey 800 sq m internal winter garden allowing natural light to fill the building, which also connects to an external summer garden providing quality social space all year round."

Chris Long, East Surrey College Director of Communication and Capital Build, said: "With its outstanding design, the new college provides world class facilities for teaching and learning. This landmark building is the gateway to Redhill and an important visual indication to the community of how education and skills acquisition can improve lives and opportunities." 

Fully accessible and DDA compliant, the building provides teaching spaces that are flexible and optimise natural daylighting. Internally, glazed screens to classrooms give the building a light and open feel. Externally, the building features a curved zinc-clad three storey block containing the learning resources centre and administration area and translucent cladding panels - the first time this particular system has been used in the UK - which achieve exceptional thermal insulation values while allowing high levels of natural daylight into the building.

A number of sustainable features are incorporated into the building design, including rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, a green roof, a wood chip fuelled biomass boiler and solar panels, and it has been awarded a BREEAM 'very good' rating.