Brent Planning Committee last night approved a new building for the College of North West London on Olympic Way/Fulton Road the site of the current Olympic Office Centre.
The building will replace both the current building in Wembley Park at the station end of Olympic Way and the Dudden Hill campus of the college which will be developed for housing.
Early plans for Dudden Hill site (part of Neasden Stations Master Plan)
The current Wembley Park building will be redeveloped alongside the shopping centre, McDonalds and the theatre. The Wealdstone Brook flows within that college site and under Olympic Way.
After the CNWL's amalgamation with Westminster College as United College Group there were a number of property deals. The other Wembley Park building was sold to the DfE and now houses the Michaela School and the fairly new £5.5m Kilburn Centre LINK building was disposed of. LINK
Although the applicant's image above shows an open area around the college it emerged that it is likely to be secured by additional measures given the large crowds using Olympic Way on event days. Planning officers said that the new building at 8 storeys would be just 2 metres higher than the Olympic Officer Centre.
The college will cater for 1,630 people including teenage and adult students but, unlike a school, attendance hours will vary,and it will operate at 60% capacity. Neighbourhood CIL will not be payable by the applicant but London CIL will apply.
Councillors expressed concern over security, particularly as the college is aiming to cater for more neurodiverse students, and one councillor was keen that there should be a separate entrance for them. The college responded that they believed in integrating such students as part of their inclusion policy.
A number of security features are included in the building such as anti-hostile vehicle devices but Cllr S Butt was puzzled that no accreditation for Secure by Design had been sought when this was the case with other buildings in the vicinity that had been considered by the Committee. Planning Officer David Glover insisted that this was not necessary but Butt warned that if there was an incident in the future the Council may regret that this had not been done. Glover said that the applicant could be encouraged to seek accreditation.
Councillors also asked about the loss of 27 trees as a result of the redevelopment with only one retained. The applicant will provide 41 new trees at ground floor and third floor level.
In contrast to the Mumbai Junction's 500+ objections only one objection had been received to this application and this was about disturbance during the construction period.
(Olympic Way!)
The Planning Statement by the applicant gives an overview of what the campus will offer:
Curriculum & Specific
Requirements
The curriculum offer aligns
with key local and national priorities and requires certain elements of specialist
space. This modern and flexible building will provide the canvas for
significant growth in these key strands of provision:
● Academic teaching quality and student success
● Technical and apprenticeship provision for young
people, including STEM key stage
curriculum
● Higher level technical skills qualification for
adults
● Increased quality of Profound Multiple Learning
Disability facilities
The new campus will provide
a whole of year approach to provision and will ensure access to education using multiple
entry and exit points which will allow adult learners the opportunity to ‘retrain
and return’ to the labour market quickly or progress to higher level
qualifications. This meets the identified skills development needs of London
Borough of Brent and the Greater London Authority, in a borough with a stated
desire through the Local Plan (2022) to improve the skills level of its
residents and increase the average wage.
The portfolio of provision
also aligns with those areas that have been identified by Central
Government including STEM,
precision engineering, green technologies, and the built
environment, as well as
opportunities in practitioner qualifications in digital tech/communications and
science.
The new campus will provide
an inspiring learning environment that will impact positively on learning,
learner outcomes and learner satisfaction. The site will provide for an
integrated Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision through
an inclusive ’Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties’ PMLD unit. The
housing of this provision in one building with the rest of the student cohort,
integrates PMLD students fully into the student body for the benefit of all.
Providing this consistent
and inclusive approach does create additional servicing requirements as specific
pick up and drop off is required as close to the entrance of the building as
possible.
Through discussion with
Brent and TFL officers, it has been agreed to maintain the existing layby on
Fulton Way as also permitted within the extant scheme. Within the adopted
highway, this layby will be capable of housing two dedicated mini bus shuttles
for PMLD students, the college acknowledged that this will create a specific
management requirement on the college, especially during a match day scenario.
The College commits to working with the Council and Metropolitan Police to
ensure that this public benefit does not result in any additional risks during
special event days. We expect further details to be provided pursuant to
planning conditions
