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by Jenni Horn

jhorn@thekmgroup.co.uk

In just five months’ time, MidKent College students will be
moving into their new home.

The £86 million Medway campus in Prince Arthur Road, Gillingham, is
nearing completion and will be officially opening its doors at the
start of the next academic year, in September.

The state-of-the art campus on the Lower Lines will replace the
Horsted and City Way centres in Chatham and Rochester, both of
which will close in July. Two thirds of the site is now complete
with the campus due to open its doors on August 17, when staff are
set to arrive.

The project has been severely delayed by a number of site problems,
but thanks to innovative construction techniques used by
contractors Kier Build, the project is now on schedule and within
budget.

Facilities at the site, which will be able to accept 30 per cent
more students than the existing two centres, include plumbing and
engineering workshops, hairdressing salons, holistic therapy rooms,
a professional dance and drama studio and student chill-out
zones.

The campus will have a bistro, florist, travel agents and hair and
beauty salon, which will be staffed by the students and open to the
public.

Jane Jones, Medway vision project director, said: “One of the great
things about the location of the campus is that we are in the heart
of the community. “We will be encouraging people to come in to eat
at the restaurant and the bistro, visit the hairdressers, get their
nails done and use the facilities in the library.

“It is also a wonderful opportunity because so many of our students
are studying vocational courses; it is lovely for them to have
customers.”

“The location is also important in terms of how close we are to the
Universities at Medway campus. Medway has one of the lowest
participation rates in Higher Education in the country.

“One of our key strategies is to encourage our students to go on to
university. Being so close to the campus means they can experience
the university ethos.”

The new campus consists of three main buildings linked by two
transparent pavilions containing the social centres of the
college.

Miss Jones added: “The scale of the site is quite daunting, but the
design is so that each building feels like its own entity and
students feel a bit of ownership rather than feeling like they are
coming into a big anonymous place.

“The existing sites are very run down. The buildings were never
meant to last as long as they have. What we have at the new campus
is light, spacious, good quality accommodation with a much more
friendly atmosphere and the equipment is first rate.”