News RSS Feed


Top stories for Bexley, Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich and Dartford and Gravesend, and elsewhere in south east London and north Kent.
- Comment Register now to post your comments. It’s free, quick and easy.
- Sign up for News Shopper's free email bulletins and text alerts.
- Email photos and videos or text keyword NEWS SHOPPER with your message/photo/video to 80360.
follow us:Twitter

ORPINGTON: £26m college revamp finished ahead of time

7:20am Wednesday 9th December 2009


A COLLEGE revamp costing £26m has finished ahead of schedule.

Construction work at Orpington College was expected to be finished in spring next year but the project has been completed 10 weeks early.

Buildings, dating back more than 30 years, have been demolished and a new hi-tech four-storey block built.

The new building, called The Ozone, will house a study and IT centre with state-of-the-art computer facilities.

Principal Simon Norton said: “I am absolutely delighted about it and I think it is a fantastic building.

“We hope it will help to revitalise the town and I know this supports what Bromley Council was hoping for.”

The redevelopment, started in July last year, includes a revamp of the college’s landmark 11-storey tower block overlooking Orpington town centre with a newly designed reception and refectory area.

It also boasts a new study centre and eco-friendly heating and cooling systems, while the sports hall has been treated to a new roof.

Extra classroom space has also been gained by transforming the existing library.

Meanwhile an area known as The Hive has replaced the previous canteen and social area, and the entrance to the college has been moved from Market Square onto Lychgate Road.

Mr Norton adds: “They will be able to use much better quality classrooms and will have a better cafe and common area.

“We are also going to have a common room for our mature students.”

Orpington College, which has 1,300 students, was given the money by the Government’s Learning and Skills Council, while it also secured a £1m bank loan.

Although students and staff are already enjoying the new benefits of the buildings, the official opening will be in April next year.

In October last year workmen on the site got a surprise when they dug up an Anderson bomb shelter from the Second World War.

To read about what is happening in your community, visit newsshopper.co.uk/news/community


Related links


More News stories

Your Say YourShopper

Excalibur, says...
10:09am Wed 9 Dec 09

Great - all we need now is for the college to be granted another £26 million in order to provide an armed guard to escort the scummy so-called students in and out of the area. I note that the police are currently providing this service - at the expense of the poor old tax payer again.

But then the Orpington College authorities really don't care about the local community, they're more interested in the cash that the government pay them for keeping the young thugs off the dole queue and in so called 'further education'.

Disgraceful.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Slonik, Bromley says...
2:09pm Wed 9 Dec 09

Let's hope the students appreciate these new facilities and that the proportion of trouble-makers who've done so much harm to the college's image are weeded out and removed.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Make Life, In your heart says...
5:50pm Wed 9 Dec 09

The students will not appreciate the facilities......its fresh clean wall for them to graffitti

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

porkpie, SE London says...
9:43am Thu 10 Dec 09

I think the sad part is that most of them will like it and use it well. However like most things now days it will get wrecked by the bottom feeders of society. That's when we hear about it.
I do hope the Police give the college a bill..........Who am I kidding, it's not going to happen is it.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

RedRevolver, Sydenham, Lewisham says...
12:53pm Thu 10 Dec 09

It is a shame, then, that it is badly built - we were all shovelled into the new building '10 weeks ahead of time' for so called 'better facilities' to find the classrooms were cramped, the walls are so thin that a class next door sound like they are rioting when they are being extremely quiet. It's actually disgraceful that 14 lecturers have been closeted away in the tiniest space imaginable, and that there were not even BINS installed before shepherding us in - there are still none - they cost 99p in the 99p store - WTH?! The study centre, fair enough, it's an improvement - but this is further proof that A-Level students and teachers needs are being put below those in management whose pockets are getting fatter and they are making sure they are getting the perks.

Simon Norton advised Gordon Brown on financial matters, and has no experience in teaching - that tells you a lot, does it not?

I love this college. I love my experience here. I love the friends I have made and I love the teachers that have inspired me to achieve the really great grades I have so far, and will do (hopefully!) this June. But I do not love the bureaucratic, half-witted and barely educated idiots that attempt to run it.

Oh, and the majority of students here are not thugs and are not badly behaved. Sorry to disappoint you, Excalibur.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

jcmatthews2801, Orpington says...
10:01pm Sat 12 Dec 09

redrolver don't worry most schools are ran by bureaucratic idiots especially in the sixth form were all they care about is money and results follow that followed by students.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

RedRevolver, Sydenham, Lewisham says...
2:17pm Sun 13 Dec 09

Yes, I know, but in FE colleges like Orpington funding is much harder to receive than local secondary schools, because they have to have a certain amount of retention and quality of results. A lot of the work being palmed off to lecturers should really be done by the administration staff, particularly as FE lecturers are so poorly paid compared to people who teach similar courses at attached sixth forms.

I just find it simultaneously annoying and funny that they sat all of the humanities lecturers down (or so I've been told) and gave this long speech about how wonderful and brilliant this new build is, by the bureaucrats who either have refurbished offices in the main tower block or a lovely ground floor which I am led to believe has been suitably sound proofed and they have a lot more space. Then my lecturers had to turn around and go 'Well, actually, wait a minute - it's horrendous. The electricity doesn't work properly, the walls haven't been soundproofed, and it's not been properly furnished.' For a building that cost £26,000,000, it seems like something which was built on less than £5,000,000, at the very most.

It's just ridiculous. Hopefully it'll be decorated prettily by my teachers over the course of the next few weeks! :D

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Comments are closed on this article.

ORPINGTON: £26m college revamp finished ahead of time Principal Simon Norton

The new reception

Principal Simon Norton





When news happens – email newsdesk, call 01689 885703 or text keyword NEWS SHOPPER along with your news, pictures and videos to 80360.

Local Advertisers

Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »