Post-16 campus 'could be cultural game-changer'

The Education, Sport & Culture Committee's project would deliver 15,000sq. m of internal education and community spaces, including 1,700sq. m of indoor sporting and recreational facilities.

The bespoke post-16 campus will have a sixth form centre and The Guernsey Institute co-located.

ESC president Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen said it was delighted to share the plans with the community.

‘The new campus could be a cultural game-changer for Guernsey and Alderney,’ she said.

‘Not only will the post-16 campus provide a truly adult learning environment for our young people, but it will also offer many educational and training opportunities to the community as part of our commitment to lifelong learning.

‘Having had this vision supported by the States, we are extremely pleased with how the plans have progressed to develop the site with the right facilities to make it a reality.’

The development would see teaching across five structures of varying sizes.

The plan aims to preserve the site’s green spaces, despite the expansion.

As part of this, the well-known mature sweet chestnut tree, which featured in the former St Peter Port school emblem, will be retained.

A traffic survey was carried out and it was estimated the enhanced site would generate about 312 journeys at the daily peak. The majority will be existing trips.

The report also suggested that traffic lights be installed on the Les Baissieres/Le Friquet junction.

Also the phasing of the Les Ozouets Road/Footes Lane lights and the Fosse Andre/La Couture lights should be increased from 90 seconds to 120 seconds.

Two new pedestrian crossings should also be installed on Les Ozouets road and the visibility of crossing on La Couture should be improved.

‘It has been an incredible team effort to get to this point and I want to thank everyone involved,’ said Nick Hynes, director of Education and responsible officer for the implementation of the new post-16 model. ‘I have been very assured by the thoroughness and quality of the design process.

‘What we have is a comprehensive development plan which, if approved, will not only make excellent use of the site but will help us to deliver quality education to all our post-16 learners.’

. More information about the plans can be found at www.ourfuture.gg/education

The structures

The sixth form centre will be accommodated across three floors of one building, with an atrium spanning all floors providing spaces for individual and communal study, and a self-catering area.

A dedicated building for construction and engineering with 2,735sq. m of classrooms and workshops will be created, with design and technology workshops and classrooms for the sixth form centre.

Alongside this, a new teaching block will be built around the Princess Royal Centre for the Performing Arts, with 5,300sq. m of new teaching accommodation.

This will have specialist facilities for nurse training, art students and hair and beauty.

A four-court sports hall will be created, available for a variety of sports.

Slightly separate from the other buildings there will be a standalone horticulture building, adjacent to allotments.