The Beacon Centre
The Beacon Centre is a brand new £18.3 million teaching space sitting in the heart of the Blackburn College campus. It features The Hub, a student focussed area to support students, plus state-of-the-art teaching facilities for our courses: Creative Arts, Fashion and Textiles, Photography, Childhood Studies, Health and Social Care and Public Services, as well as a library and social and administrative accommodation.
- 65 classrooms and teaching spaces including art studios IT suites and photography studios
- Creative Arts with large window spaces for maximum natural light
- Photography studio with darkroom
- Weaving, pattern making, embroidery, ceramics, print making, digital art, fashion and textiles classrooms
- Childhood Studies classrooms featuring the pioneering Forrest School initiative
- Health and Social Care classroom with mock hospital ward
- Fully resourced library with laptop provision
- Social spaces, café featuring Starbucks.
- Male and Female multi faith prayer rooms.
- The Beacon Centre has been built to a embrace sustainability:
- Thermally designed building to BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating – to limit heat loss
- Grey water system – rainwater is harvested off the roof to flush the toilets
- Air source heat pumps – converts external air temperatures into useful heat, such as underfloor heating
- Windowmaster temperature and CO2 monitors – opens and closes windows automatically
- Solar thermal water collectors – uses sun rays to heat water for hand washing
- Green sedum roof covers the three-storey structure – created to reduce the amount of rainfall entering the drains and provide new habitats.
