Top of the class fit out

We refurbished 20,000 sq ft of teaching and learning space during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing new specialist learning spaces for students undertaking their T-Levels at Dudley College. This project was won via a competitive tender through the Pagabo Medium Works Framework.

Project partners

  • Dudley College
  • Lamb Consultancy

Project description

Proving social value and supporting the local area was incredibly important throughout the project, providing learning spaces for local students, employing local subcontractors and providing opportunities for local apprentices.

The new spaces are specifically designed to support a range of new T-Level courses offered by Dudley College; IT, Design and Gaming, Childcare, and Construction. With these courses relying on a mix of vocational and in-classroom learning, it was crucial learning spaces had the right specialist facilities to support the student’s limited classroom time.

Specialist spaces

Specialist spaces are required to provide students with hands-on access to industry technology throughout the course. One such discipline is this motion capture space, providing students with an immersive green screen motion capture suite to help with 3D animation.

Let there be light

In order to provide new teaching spaces, we converted the college’s double-height atrium into additional learning spaces. Reclaiming the space from the atrium allowed us to build these collaborative learning spaces that are flooded in natural light flowing in from the windows.

To continue this light-filled feeling throughout the fit out, we re-fitted new doors with glass panels to help natural light reach further into the fit out. This not only helps reduce energy consumption but also assists in boosting student and staff wellbeing through increased natural light exposure.

Ensuring efficiency

As part of the fit out, we also replaced all doors, floors and ceilings throughout the project space. This allowed us to ensure that M&E was up-to-date and energy-efficient solutions were chosen to help the college achieve their energy-consumption targets. Due to the heat produced by the IT equipment, a new air conditioning and heating plant room was required to house the equipment, assisting with ventilation.

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