Project Summary

Northern Regional College provides vocational training for students across a range of specialist subjects from Motor Engineering to Plumbing and Gas Installation. The brief for this project was to deliver new state-of-the art ‘skills’ based workshops with associated spaces for Staff and Administration which was linked back to the existing accommodation via a centralised social space. The single storey block forms a rough ‘U-shape’ on the site with brickwork walls and profiled metal roofs. Internal partitions are a mixture of blockwork and light-weight metal stud partitions. Approximately 1000 sqm of existing redundant accommodation was also stripped back to shell and refurbished to accommodate Welding, Heavy Engineering and Electronic Engineering. All of this work was designed and delivered whilst the existing NRC College remained fully operational. This required complex phasing arrangements agreed via extensive stakeholder workshops with the end-users. Key challenges included

• Resolution of complex floor level issues to promote greater DDA integration.
• Stakeholder engagement with numerous users across a multitude of specialist operations
• Specialist operations encompassing a range of technical issues & equipment
• Ensuring appropriate equipment was identified and transferred from current NRC locations
• Development of the refurbishment works within existing zones with poorly insulated walls