A Stockport college has revealed plans for a ‘specialist’ new teaching block boasting convertible classrooms and an outdoor ‘student square’. Aquinas College, in Heaviley, has submitted proposals for a two-storey building at its base in Nangreave Road, just off the A6.
To be built on a one-acre plot next to the main college building, it would feature 10 new classrooms, a staff room and additional ‘flexible learning spaces’. A ‘student square’ is also proposed, offering an area for quiet study, small group breakout sessions and occasional outdoor lessons.
The proposed site housed part of the main college building before its demolition and redevelopment around 15 years ago.
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Planning papers read: “The planned new build is to provide specialist provision for subjects that the college did not provide when the original planning permission was granted, and to meet curriculum demand and local need.
“The proposed classrooms will be standard learning spaces, capable of conversion to larger exam halls if required.”
The document adds that the college has a policy of modest growth in line with targets set by the government and local authority - amounting to an extra 20-30 students per year..
It continues: “This will happen even without the currently proposed development, albeit the facilities provided to students will be of a lower quality and within overcrowded classrooms.
“The proposals will not be directly associated with an uplift in student numbers at the site. However, [they] will enable the college to better care for existing students, while continuing a steady growth to support the local area.”
Papers say that the block would be positioned at the end of the visitors’ approach, creating ‘a strong’ and inviting ‘visual impact’.
“It is placed to take advantage of a currently under-utilised vista across the site from the main entrance,” documents add. “The sweeping curve of the entrance sits at the crux of this view, highlighting the entrance to the building.”
The proposed building is described as sitting away from the site boundary and the existing lines of trees, ‘ensuring its ‘impact upon the existing landscaping in minimised’ and the secondary façades ‘have a visual barrier from the residential properties’.
Classrooms at both ground and first floor would be of equal size, with the void above the foyer creating a ‘dramatic double height space’, according to papers.
The ground floor would provide classrooms,a student drop-in and learning support centre, a seminar room and a staff room. All rooms are connected by a wide corridor which leads off the entrance foyer, framed by a ‘statement staircase’ leading up to the first floor.
Meanwhile, the first floor is purely classroom space - other than toilet facilities - creating a ‘monof-unction’ level which would be convenient for isolated use, such as during exam periods.
The proposed student square will be accessible directly from the learning hub, allowing students and staff can take their studies outdoors. Papers say shrub planting and tree lines ‘will bring wellbeing benefits associated with planting, to foster a creative attitude to learning’.
Inclusivity has also been an important part of the plans, with the new building designed to enable disabled and non-disabled users to share spaces equally.
No new parking spaces are proposed, but there are currently 207 spaces for staff, students and visitors, including seven disabled bays and six dedicated to visitors.
However, through a new travel plan the college has committed to tightening the restrictions on students who can apply for a car parking permit. From September, those living within two miles of the college will no longer be able to apply.
The college also has some 90 cycling spaces - said to be ‘more than sufficient to meet existing demand and future growth’.
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