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Double Success for College Building

19th June 2009

Type: News

Categories: Love Middlesbrough News

Middlesbrough College Middlesbrough College is celebrating after receiving not one, but two, awards in less than a week.

On Monday, the 15th of June the College received a 'Highly Commended' award at the Middlesbrough Council Design Awards 2009. Then on the following Thursday, at a ceremony in London, the College received another 'Highly Commended' award at the RIBA / LSC Further Education Design Excellence Awards.

The College's building has attracted a lot of interest since it opened in August 2008, bringing a dramatic impact to the landscape of Middlesbrough as well as attracting over 6,000 students.

The Middlesbrough Council Design award was presented to the College at an event held at another new Middlesbrough landmark, the mima gallery, as part of Urban Design Week.

The evening began with a lecture by local architecture enthusiast and television personality, John Grundy, in which he celebrated the architectural history of Middlesbrough. The awards then celebrated the developments taking place across Middlesbrough that are transforming the landscape.

The College was 'Highly Commended' by the judging panel for its new building on the 250 acre Middlehaven regeneration zone.

The award was received on behalf of the College by Martin Peagam, Assistant Principal, from David Budd, Executive Member with responsibility for Economic Regeneration and Culture.

Commenting on the award, David Budd said, "Good design has a major role to play in giving the town a strong sense of place and identity and we have some fantastic new examples in Middlesbrough. Good design is critical to the ambition for the town. If we can raise the aspiration on design then that has to be good for the town's regeneration. Middlesbrough College is a fine example of a building that demonstrates good design, challenges perceptions about urban design, and raises aspirations, thus contributing to regeneration".

Then on Thursday the College received a second award, this time from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The RIBA LSC Further Education Design Awards celebrate design excellence in recently completed Further Education buildings. The judging panel short-listed five college buildings from all those completed in the past year. The overall prize went to Joseph Chamberlain College but Middlesbrough College, the sole representative of the North East, was highly commended by the judges as an example of a large scale, cross curriculum project.

The Awards Ceremony took place in London and the College was represented by Zoe Lewis, Vice Principal, and Martin Peagam, Assistant Principal., accompanied by representatives of the project architects, Archial Architects.

'Everyone at the College can be proud of both of these awards', said John Hogg, Principal. 'They recognise the contribution that we are making to improving both the urban landscape and, more importantly, to providing first-class facilities where people can learn and achieve their aspirations.'

Background: Middlesbrough College

Middlesbrough College Middlesbrough College is the largest provider of education and training in the Tees Valley. The College offers a wide range of courses and facilities for personal development. It attracts LSC income of £19 million, serves over 5,000 students and employs 600 staff.

After almost fifty years on the existing sites, at Marton, Longlands, Acklam and Kirby, the College moved in the summer of 2008 to new, state-of-the-art facilities in a £68million purpose-built building on a site near to the centre of Middlesbrough.

The new facility brings together under one roof all the existing facilities of the College, including a Theatre, a Sports Hall, a Gymnastics Centre, Engineering and Construction Workshops, a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Hospitality and Catering, Hair and Beauty salons, and state of the art learning technology. It was funded by a major grant from the Learning and Skills Council, as well as funding provided the University of Teesside, Sport England, and the proceeds from the sale of the College’s existing sites.

The new Middlesbrough College site is at the heart of Tees Valley Regeneration’s plans to revive the Middlehaven area of Middlesbrough. The new Middlesbrough College at Middlehaven has had a major impact on the regeneration of an area of Middlesbrough that has been dormant for over twenty years. The College has improved the urban environment with its iconic design.

More importantly the College has had an immediate and sustainable impact on the economic, social and cultural viability of the area, providing a major impetus to the wider Middlehaven regeneration scheme.

Having lain dormant since the closure of the dockyards over twenty years ago the site is now occupied by the 6,000 students and 1,000 staff of Middlesbrough College.

Under one roof there are 32,000m2 of space including:

a 156 seat theatre
a six-court sports hall
a gymnastics training centre
a fitness centre
six training kitchens
a restaurant and cafe
a four-storey library
two hair salons
four beauty salons
a spa suite and nail bar
fourteen engineering and construction workshops
two lecture theatres
six science laboratories
four drama and dance studios
six recording studios
a travel shop
art studios

Many of the facilities and services provided within the building are open to the public seven days a week, thus providing a ready-made community resource to support the residential and commercial developments emerging alongside the College as part of the largest zero-carbon regeneration project in Europe.

Background: Urban Design Week

Urban Design Week Middlesbrough's first ever Urban Design Week took place from June 15 to 21.

The week was a celebration of recent successes in the town's built environment and featured a number of events.

Urban Design Week coincided with the North Festival of Architecture from June 13 to 28, launched this week at the groundbreaking Boho 1 building at the heart of the town's digital hub.

Buildings under the spotlight during the week included mima, Middlesbrough College, the new Boho building, the RiversideOne marketing suite at Middlehaven and two recently completed University buildings.

Background: The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

RICS – The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – is the pre-eminent organisation of its kind in the world.

Its members offer the very best advice on a surprisingly diverse range of land, property, construction and related environmental issues.

The Institution helps to set, maintain and regulate standards. We also provide impartial advice to governments and policy-makers.

Today RICS is a global property professional’s organisation:

International headquarters in London, with world regional offices in Brussels, Dubai, Hong Kong, New York and Sydney
Members in 146 countries
34,000 students on 400 accredited degree courses
500 industry research and policy papers published every year
50 national associations
160 diverse specialisms represented across 17 faculties

The RICS Awards are the annual celebration of built and natural environment projects that demonstrate excellence in the categories; Regeneration, Building Conservation, Community Benefit and Sustainability and a commitment to value for money and sustainability.

The categories showcase the skills offered, and the contribution made, in delivering world-class projects.

In addition to the four main award categories, the Project of the Year award is given to any entry that is judged to have excelled in any (or all) of the main categories.

Download via visitmiddlesbrough.com

Map: Recent Developments

Map for a self-guided tour around recent developments in central Middlesbrough including Middlesbrough College. Includes a diverse range of buildings from mima to the new state of the art Police HQ.