City of Portsmouth College

Overview

We were engaged by City of Portsmouth College to produce a comprehensive set of existing floor plans for all of their campus buildings across Portsmouth, including eight separate buildings over four sites. This work involved producing fresh drawings by carrying out on-site measured surveys, in addition to updating legacy drawings, to create accurate and reliable records of the college’s estate. Alongside this, we were tasked with developing proposed designs for a series of internal alterations to support evolving curriculum needs and improve the suitability of several teaching spaces.

Design Approach

The first stage involved surveying each building and consolidating historic plans into a consistent format. This ensured the college had a complete and up-to-date baseline for future planning, maintenance, and development.

With accurate existing drawings in place, we then progressed to designing a series of targeted refurbishments, including:

• Early Years Facility:
  Two existing classrooms were reconfigured to create a dedicated early years space, incorporating child-friendly WCs, nappy-changing facilities, and a kitchenette to support supervised activities and day-to-day operation.

• Media and Journalism Suite:
  A former residential floor was transformed into a new media hub. The proposals introduced specialist rooms for journalism, including a radio studio, TV studio, newsroom, and other teaching spaces designed to accommodate modern media production.

• General Alterations:
  Additional proposals were prepared for various rooms across the building, modifying layouts and functions to better align with current academic requirements and improve the usability of the spaces.

Outcome

The completed drawing package and proposed designs provide the college with a foundation for its ongoing improvement programme. By delivering accurate estate-wide plans and reconfigurations tailored to specialised teaching needs, the project supports the institution’s commitment to providing modern, purpose-built learning environments for its students.

(Aerial images of each site from Google Maps)