Bournemouth & Poole College has begun carrying out planned maintenance and refurbishment work to the main Grade II listed clock tower building at its Lansdowne site, to ensure that the building continues to operate to a high standard.
The College has been open since 1913 and has a number of Grade II listed buildings which are located in the town centre of Bournemouth. The College has invested £60,000 into this restoration programme which includes renovations to the brick work, windows and guttering, and it has removed overgrown plants in the surrounding grounds.
This is in addition to the £2million first phase of improvement work, which completed an internal and external refurbishment of a three storey 1957 building. The next two phases, subject to the successful granting of planning and listed building consent, will remove inefficient 1940s buildings from the centre of the site.
This project will see an investment of more than £10million to ensure the buildings are suitable to meet local business training needs, future students’ expectations, support the Dorset Skills Plan and Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership’s strategic priorities. An employability and advanced apprenticeship centre, with a business support hub and facilities to support the expanding digital economy in Bournemouth is all included in the proposed plans.
Paul Marks, head of estates and facilities at The College, said: “The College is the proud custodian of Bournemouth’s landmark building in Lansdowne. All of the refurbishment work, to the Grade II listed building has been carried out by our skilled in-house tradesmen who have helped sustain the buildings future for years to come.
“With work due to commence later this year, if approval planning and listed building consent is granted, we hope that our proposed plans will take the Lansdowne site to the next level and continue to improve our student’s learning experience.”
