Feature: Revamping Brighton College of Technology

There has been a technical school in the heart of Brighton for the best part of the last 150 years.

Yet only now is Brighton College of Technology stirring itself and realising its full potential.

For far too long, it has been based in a sprawling series of buildings in Brighton and Hove.

Some of them have been based around the 11-storey tower block put up by the old Brighton Council in 1971 but others are much further away.

Now work has started on a £7 million facelift for the college which will concentrate nearly all of its departments on to one site.

At the same time it is seeking permission from the Department of Education to change its name to City College Brighton and Hove.

Work started during the Easter break and there will be a concentrated burst during the summer holiday with the aim of completing it by September when students return.

The college is, at present, based on several sites from School Road in Hove to Richmond Terrace in Brighton.

Everything except horticulture, which will continue at Stanmer, will be concentrated in the Pelham Street area.

Departments relocating to the site include science, engineering, humanities, carpentry and joinery, motor vehicles, electrical installation, painting and decorating, brickwork and photography.

The main entrance to the tower complex will be put back to Pelham Street from Whitecross Street.

It will be made much more welcoming with full access for the disabled via a series of curved ramps and a new, well decorated reception area full of flowers.

There will also be a new learning resources centre including a library and flexible learning centre in the tower.

A new refectory and training restaurant will be on the first floor of the tower and will be welcomed by students.

There will also be a new training restaurant with its own separate entrance.

This will replace the present restaurant at which generations of trainee chefs have produced fine cuisine.

Other plans for Pelham Tower include new laboratories and classrooms.

Car parking on the campus will be reduced. Marketing director Judy Parkes said: "We are looking at more environmentally-friendly ways of getting to the college including car pools and bikes."

Principal Ann Smith is already setting an example by riding each day to the college on a bicycle.

Ms Parkes said: "It is an exciting time to be doing this and putting nearly everything on one site."

She said the tower would be refurbished as parts of it were in poor condition and had a Sixties or Seventies feel about them.

The name change is being sought to reflect the fact the college covers Brighton and Hove which is now a city.

If permission is granted, a campaign will be launched later this year to get people used to the plan and a new logo which will be designed. It is likely most people will simply refer to it as City College.

It will also avoid confusion which often occurs with the other Brighton College, which is a school in Eastern Road.

The college started as the Brighton School of Art and Science in the Royal Pavilion in the 1850s before moving to a new building in Grand Parade in 1876.

Brighton Corporation took over the institution which was then called Brighton Technical College in 1892 and five years later built a large new centre for the science department in Richmond Terrace.

This imposing building was enlarged during the next 40 years through a series of extensions.

There was a big but rather uncontrolled expansion of the college in the Sixties when it took over the York Place Schools and plans were made to build the tower block. It was renamed Brighton College of Technology in 1984.

There are now plans to convert the Richmond Terrace building into housing and these have been put before Brighton and Hove City Council.

The college has also received planing permission from the council for a four-storey extension south of the tower block.

This will form the second phase of the development but it cannot be built until finance is available.

Ms Parkes said the college would become more user-friendly and establish links with the community.

Ms Smith, who took over in November last year, said: "We have celebrated many successes and look forward to some exciting development.

"Our primary objective is to give the best possible experience and support to students to enable them to reach their aspirations.

"The new building and its enhanced facilities will help us achieve this goal."