Graphic design students from The Bournemouth & Poole College are rising to an unusual challenge this summer. The 12 talented students have been invited to create a mural to decorate a high profile perimeter fence around a £14.5 million building project for a fantastic new Audi sales and car care terminal in Poole.
The students and two tutors involved in the project are already planning to transform the dull security hoardings around a building site into what they hope will be a real head turner.
Thousands of motorists every day drive by the site in Old Wareham Road, Poole and the aim is to brighten up an otherwise drab building site.
The group has already worked on some themes for the project, which will centre on both the famous and the not so famous Dorset landmarks. Donna Mintey, from Hamworthy, and Caroline Watts from Winton, are two of the team.
Said Donna: “There are some obvious choices here but I’m trying to include some that are less familiar.”
Caroline Watts, who last year became the winner of the first ever Dorset Arts Prize, is at the early stage with her contribution. She said: “I’m always up for a challenge and we have a great group here at the college so it should look spectacular when it’s done.”
Said Jane Jenkins, the HND Graphic Design Course leader. “It’s an exciting challenge for our second year students. Their enthusiasm is demonstrated in their keenness to spend their summer break researching and getting things underway.
“The brief is for landmarks across the region and, from what I understand the Audi terminal will itself become a new landmark in the area.” The students are working to a tight deadline of mid-to-late October. Construction work has already begun but the fact that their work will be highly visible in the community is a strong motivating factor in getting the project started.
The site itself covers about four acres and will house a building of 60,000 square metres off Old Wareham Road. When completed it will become one of the biggest Audi Centres in the UK. David Kelly, Managing Director of Ocean Automotive, the parent company behind Audi, told the local media recently: “The site is three times the size of the current Poole Audi showroom, workshop and offices.
James Foster, of BDM Design, the design company behind the project, said: “We wanted to brighten up the site with a piece of work which reminds people what a beautiful area they live in, and The Bournemouth & Poole College has an outstanding reputation for art and graphics.”
