Leading engineering consultancy PSA is proud to be part of the design team delivering a multi-million-pound post-16 Special Educational Needs centre in Blackburn town centre.
Blackburn with Darwen Council has successfully secured £1.7m of new Government funding that could be used to help transform the vacant Bridge House building, close to Blackburn Railway Station.
A new planning application has been submitted outlining the proposals to transform the building, including a new two-storey extension, café, parking, an outdoor garden and improved accessibility.
Councillor Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said:
It’s fantastic that we’re now in a position to submit these plans as part of our bid to transform the Bridge House building into a post-16 Special Educational Needs centre.
The building has been vacant for many years, and it requires significant investment to bring it back into use and so we’ve worked hard to secure new Government funding to help towards that.
We have big ambitions for our borough – for our residents and for our towns – and we’re on a mission to ensure no-one is left behind, this is a great example of that.
As well as the Government and council investment, the local authority is also looking to use Section 106 money from new housing developments in the borough.
When the plans were first announced last month, Councillor Julie Gunn, the Council’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said:
We want to give all our children and young people the very best start to their lives, and this could be a wonderful new centre for those with special educational needs and disabilities.
The idea of incorporating a café that would be open to the public is particularly exciting as it’ll give the pupils hands-on experience while they learn valuable skills in catering and hospitality, creating important career pathways for them.
With impressive new facilities just unveiled at the neighbouring Blackburn Youth Zone too – supported by the Youth Investment Fund – it opens-up wider opportunities for them to be able to access those facilities, which would be right on their doorstep.
And all of this comes on the back of our Children’s Services being rated Good by Ofsted in a glowing report, which is absolutely brilliant.
This new planning application comes just weeks after approval was given for a £2.5m extension to Newfield School, which offers specialist education for children and young people aged between two and 19 years old.
That extension aims to provide new places for 65 pupils with special educational needs.
The Bridge House project could see the numbers of post-16 pupils taught by Crosshill also increase to more than 70, to help meet the needs of an anticipated increase over the coming years.
Currently, the pupils are based at a facility on a business park and the new plans will allow them to access a much wider curriculum, including important life and vocational skills.
Plus, the investment could also pave the way for the existing two-year course to be extended.
PSA is working alongside architect’s Cassidy + Ashton for the scheme, which is expected to cost around £3.5m.
Jimmy Dobson, Managing Director at PSA, said:
It’s great to see an historical building such as this being utilised for such a worthwhile community facility. This is going to bring the much needed extra educational space for the school.
PSA’s extensive experience in designing educational facilities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) brings critical expertise to this sensitive project. The team understands that creating the right environment for SEN learners requires careful consideration of factors often invisible to the casual observer but essential for student wellbeing and learning outcomes.
Our technical designs take into consideration all of the original structure and charm of Bridge House, originally built in 1878, by using as much of the existing infrastructure as possible, while bringing in solutions that minimise the disruption to the integrity or visual appearance of the building.
The planning application can be viewed in full using this link.
