A THORNTON Heath college has unveiled ambitious plans to transform its campus to become Croydon’s first home grown university.
Spurgeon’s College which is on South Norwood Hill, and falls
within the Thornton Heath ward, recently announced that it is partnering with Liverpool Hope University to deliver degree courses as part of a long term plan to offer higher education opportunities to more people within the borough.
within the Thornton Heath ward, recently announced that it is partnering with Liverpool Hope University to deliver degree courses as part of a long term plan to offer higher education opportunities to more people within the borough.
New proposals to redevelop the existing site which is ‘not fit for purpose’ seek to address residents concerns ahead of the submission of a planning application in August.
Last July the leading Christian College unveiled ambitious plans to transform its Thornton Heath campus to become Croydon’s first home grown university.
Spurgeon’s College hosted a virtual public consultation to share initial proposals for the development of the campus, which includes a mix of one, two and three bedroom houses.
The latest plans have responded to some of the concerns raised by local residents and have made five key changes including a significant reduction in the overall number of proposed new homes from nearly 200 to around 120.
The new proposals, show a considerable reduction in overall height of the proposed development and feature woodland enhancement under a pedestrianised and landscape boulevard.
There will also be shared amenity space for the new homes on the college, and the college is exploring making facilities available to local community groups with new forest teaching for local schools, conference rooms for hire and a cafe space for events.
The development includes upgrading the existing facilities, provision of a larger library and 13 new classrooms.
There have also been changes for the layout of the new homes within the blocks as well to ensure high quality homes as well as changes in the elevational and facade to fit in with the with the existing college buildings.
The majority of the proposed car parking has been relocated to be below the residential buildings, to have less of an impact on the overall site.
The plans include a shuttle bus service to and from local station to encourage use of public transport with provision of electric vehicle parking and bike storage.
The development would replace the low quality extensions currently attached to Walker House
Principal of Spurgeon’s College, Rev Professor Philip McCormack said: “… our existing site and buildings are not fit for practice. And we must make changes to enable us to continue our valuable work on offering to students and realise our ambition to achieve university status and become the first homegrown University in Croydon.
“It will upgrade our teaching facilities, giving us more capacity with better designs, and the proposed residential element will provide the financial capital, to secure our long term future.
“We are dedicated to continuing our important work, and supporting our local community, for the long term. However, without the careful development of our site we will not be able to do this.
For nearly 100 years, we have made a valuable contribution to Croydon, and beyond are ambitious necessary proposals will allow us to grow, expand and strengthen this contribution by bringing a multitude of economic and social benefits to the local community, while preserving the heritage and environment of our site.”
However the revisions have not met all concerns of local residents who continue to express reservations about the loss of light and privacy on homes that will be overlooked by the development, noise from the car park which will be under some homes and environmental concerns around the removal of trees.
A public exhibition of the design finishes on July 30 and the application is expected to go to the planning committee in December with construction due to start in 2022.
The college which has primarily offered theology courses, is now running three new joint honours degree programme sacross six new subject areas from September. There will BAs in business management and market; international l relations and social policy; and media and communication and creative writing.
The College currently has around 600 students enrolled, with the new courses opening up opportunities for hundreds more students.
Leader of Croydon Council, Cllr Hamida Ali said: “This represents an exciting opportunity for our community to take advantage of expanding educational opportunities available within the local area.
“The flexible way that the College delivers their courses, on weekends, weekdays and evenings, means that the transformative power of education and the opportunities it can bring for both individuals and the local community are accessible to more people within our borough.”