Jewel & Esk College, Edinburgh
Jewel and Esk College was created in 1987 from the merger of Leith Nautical College and Esk Valley College. The ‘Jewel’ part of the name refers to the former coal-mining area in the college’s catchment area; Esk Valley College specialised in Mining studies.
Client: Jewel & Esk College
Architect: RMJM
Jewel & Esk College, Edinburgh
Jewel and Esk College was created in 1987 from the merger of Leith Nautical College and Esk Valley College. The ‘Jewel’ part of the name refers to the former coal-mining area in the college’s catchment area; Esk Valley College specialised in Mining studies.
The college had two campuses, located at Milton Road in the west of Edinburgh and at Eskbank, Dalkeith. In 2005 the College obtained funding to undertake a major redevelopment of these two campuses. RMJM were appointed as Architects on the project, Woolgar Hunter as Civil and Structural Engineers.
The Milton Road project involved a combination of refurbishment, remodelling and extension of the existing buildings, along with construction of stand alone new building.
The main teaching building was fully refurbished and extended to create a specialist facility with soundproof music rooms and a performance space. ‘Box in box’ construction was adopted to provide the necessary acoustic performance of the rehearsal rooms.
The striking new building has a large glazed elevation cantilevered toward the site entrance. This building groups together the spa/retreat, gym, studio and treatment rooms to form a consolidated ‘club’ facility which simulates top end hotel & leisure facilities. In addition the building accommodates training and production kitchens and a full restaurant. These facilities are open to the public, allowing ‘real life’ experience for the students.
The Eskbank project involved the complete decant of the college into temporary modular accommodation, a project in itself, while an entirely new building was constructed on adjacent land. The facility offers vocational training and features a Trades Pavilion, that consolidates the faculty of technology into one building with a flexible facilities for building trade training and motor mechanics.
The building structures were steel framed to create the open flexible spaces required internally and the dramatic external elevations.
The Eskbank campus demonstrated an exemplar sustainable approach to surface water drainage, utilising rain water harvesting and dissipating all run off to the ground. There is therefore absolutely no surface water discharge to sewers or watercourses.
In October 2012 the college merged with Edinburgh’s other two FE colleges (Telford College and Stevenson College) to form a new entity called Edinburgh College. Jewel & Esk’s campuses now form two of the four main sites of the new college.
The college had two campuses, located at Milton Road in the west of Edinburgh and at Eskbank, Dalkeith. In 2005 the College obtained funding to undertake a major redevelopment of these two campuses. RMJM were appointed as Architects on the project, Woolgar Hunter as Civil and Structural Engineers.
The Milton Road project involved a combination of refurbishment, remodelling and extension of the existing buildings, along with construction of stand alone new building.
The main teaching building was fully refurbished and extended to create a specialist facility with soundproof music rooms and a performance space. ‘Box in box’ construction was adopted to provide the necessary acoustic performance of the rehearsal rooms.
The striking new building has a large glazed elevation cantilevered toward the site entrance. This building groups together the spa/retreat, gym, studio and treatment rooms to form a consolidated ‘club’ facility which simulates top end hotel & leisure facilities. In addition the building accommodates training and production kitchens and a full restaurant. These facilities are open to the public, allowing ‘real life’ experience for the students.
The Eskbank project involved the complete decant of the college into temporary modular accommodation, a project in itself, while an entirely new building was constructed on adjacent land. The facility offers vocational training and features a Trades Pavilion, that consolidates the faculty of technology into one building with a flexible facilities for building trade training and motor mechanics.
The building structures were steel framed to create the open flexible spaces required internally and the dramatic external elevations.
The Eskbank campus demonstrated an exemplar sustainable approach to surface water drainage, utilising rain water harvesting and dissipating all run off to the ground. There is therefore absolutely no surface water discharge to sewers or watercourses.
In October 2012 the college merged with Edinburgh’s other two FE colleges (Telford College and Stevenson College) to form a new entity called Edinburgh College. Jewel & Esk’s campuses now form two of the four main sites of the new college.
Client: Jewel & Esk College
Architect: RMJM