City of Westminster College

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The City of Westminster College is a further education college based in Westminster, central London.

City of Westminster College is located in the London Borough of Westminster and is made up of five centres located in Paddington, Maida Vale and Queen's Park, and includes the Cockpit Theatre, a fully operational studio theatre.

City of Westminster College provides around 300 full and part-time education and training courses to over 8,000 students each year. Student cohort:
o 74% from ethnic minorities
o 44% speak English as an additional language
o 22% from Westminster
o 10% from Brent
o 59% Male, 41% Female
o 33% 16-19 year olds
o 64% over 19 year olds
o 3% 14-16 year olds

[edit] New main campus for City of Westminster College

City of Westminster College is taking forward an ambitious scheme for the redevelopment of its Paddington Green site to create an £85m world-class new campus in the heart of Westminster, with cutting-edge facilities to support the College's extensive and growing range of vocational and academic courses.

In July 06, after a RIBA-backed competition, the College appointed award-winning Danish architects schmidt hammer lassen to design the new building, which features a large atrium at the heart of the scheme and public access areas including a theatre and café. The College's brief was for high quality architecture and sustainability in a building that takes full advantage of a key location in the borough.

Since then, the architects have worked closely with the College, together with other key members of the design team Buro Happold (Structural and Mechanical & Electrical Engineers), Stace (Cost Consultants) and Knight Frank (Project Management), to develop the scheme to RIBA Stage D in September 2007. Along the way, in July 2007, the College successfully secured the Learning & Skills Council's formal commitment to the wider building programme, of which the redevelopment of the Paddington Green site is the main element. At a total cost of £107m, the programme is understood to be the largest such project approved to date by the LSC.

In addition, in August 2007, the College secured full planning consent for the new main campus. In approving the College's application, Westminster City council's members and officers praised the College's 'inspired' choice of architects, and suggested that the College's new main centre might be 'a catalyst for regeneration of the area'.

Work is due to start on site early in 2008 following the decant of provision from the current Paddington Centre to alternative temporary accommodation, less than 200 metres to the south, in North Wharf Road. More than £3m was invested in adaptations and upgrade of that accommodation to ensure that it was fully fit for purpose by the time the College moved in at Christmas 2007.

College Principal, Robin Shreeve said "We are very excited about this innovative scheme which we expect, when it opens in September 2010, to be a local, regional and national centre of excellence and a superb place to work, study or visit. Our new headquarters will contribute to our role as a 'skills hub', allow us to expand the range of courses on offer and strengthen our position at the heart of the wider community."

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