Facilities at the secondary campus of one of the region’s further education colleges have received a significant upgrade after the completion of a major building project by a north east building surveying consultancy,

Harrow Consulting has been project managing a range of refurbishment and new build work at Darlington College’s Skills Centre, which is strategically located in Catterick to serve the Ministry of Defence and North Yorkshire community.

The project was designed to bring the facilities available at the Catterick campus up to the same standard as those at the College’s main centre in Darlington.

After initially carrying out feasibility options and space planning analysis of the entire building and the campus estate, in order to identify more efficient methods of utilising the existing space, Harrow was appointed to carry out full design and project manage duties on the project, whilst keeping the Skills Centre facility operational.

New painting and decorating workshop facilities and state of the art IT suites have been created as part of the remodelling scheme, along with new changing facilities and staff accommodation, including ancillary welfare facilities.

Harrow Consulting has previously designed and project managed a number of other schemes for Darlington College over the last year.

These include the refurbishment of the Elements hair and beauty salons and extension of the ‘glasshouse restaurant’, at the Catterick and Darlington campuses, and the development of an innovative ‘lecturette’  within one of its engineering workshops, into which students can step if their tutors need to teach or discuss a particular topic with the whole group within a traditional classroom environment.

Trevor Hutcheon, Darlington College’s assistant director of estates, says: “We’ve had an excellent response to the new facilities from everyone that’s experienced them, and Harrow have done an excellent job in turning our aspirations for the project into a highly professional working environment.”

Harrow Consulting is a Newcastle-based chartered building surveying consultancy which works with a growing range of private and public sector clients across the north of England.

The company, which has particular expertise in the further and higher education sectors, won the design and project management contract for the salon projects through a competitive tender process.

Nick Rowling, Partner at Harrow Consulting, adds: “Darlington College has shown considerable foresight in developing these new facilities, which can only benefit those that learn and teach within them.

“A great deal of educational establishments’ success these days is based on making the needs of the learner the primary guiding principle of everything they do, and the College has approached this task with both practicality and creativity in mind.

“It’s extremely satisfying to see the positive response that the new facilities have already received from both College staff and students, and we hope they remain well-used for many years to come.”

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