Newcastle College has announced the next development of its ongoing £160 million investment in campus facilities.

The latest addition is a new sixth form academy providing a completely wire-free, state-of-the-art home for over 2,000 students and staff.

The new development will sit alongside the college's multi award-winning Performance Academy and the landmark Lifestyle Academy, just two of the contemporary and innovative buildings on the college's city centre campus.

International architects RMJM have been commissioned to design the sixth form academy. It will be the practice's fifth building for Newcastle College since 2002. As with RMJM's previous projects for the college, the design will challenge convention and continue to build on the college’s new and unique identity. The sixth form academy will offer 12,000m2 of highly specialised facilities from performance studios and visual arts suites to teaching laboratories.


RMJM Director Adrian Boot commented: "Our proposals for Newcastle's sixth form academy are quite a departure from traditional sixth form buildings. In addition to the very specialised facilities, the building will contain fully-wired general teaching spaces making the college highly flexible and allowing the creation of innovative teaching environments of varying size."

At the heart of the academy is a new type of learning space. Branded 'The Hive', the multi-storey social and learning hub will provide a variety of flexible and informal spaces for students to engage with the learning process outside of the traditional classroom. From intimate internet cafes to international classrooms, students and teachers can collaborate from across the building and around the world thanks to the latest in wireless technology.

Construction is due to start in February of 2009 and the college is scheduled to open in September 2010.

(CD/JM)