High temperature classrooms at Ursuline College, Thanet, to be demolished in favour of new teaching block
06:00, 29 August 2021
Outdated classrooms which reach temperatures of almost 40C are to be demolished and replaced with a new teaching block.
The IT suites at Ursuline College, in Westgate-on-Sea, suffer from “intolerably high” heat conditions in the summer months - making them a difficult learning environment.
So school bosses drew up plans for replacement classrooms and submitted an application to Kent County Council in March the year.
The proposals attracted no objections, and council officers have this month rubber-stamped the proposals.
Construction of the new block will spell the end of the existing IT suites in the school’s dilapidated St Cecilia building, which will be torn down.
The three replacement rooms - set to sit on the northern end of the school site next to Canterbury Road - will then take on the name St Cecilia.
Each room will hold 35 students, and as a result of the development, a shelter offering 20 cycle spaces will be created.
There are currently no existing classrooms large enough on site to cater for an IT suite, so the decision was made to pursue a purpose-built facility.
Unlike the hot classrooms, the spacious new rooms will be a high in energy efficiency.
On the school site, the Little Brescia building, which is currently used for storage, will also be demolished to make way for the modern block.
The now-approved plans submitted with the application, state: “Ursuline College identified an issue with the existing ICT suites which were experiencing intolerably high internal room temperatures during the summer due to the extent of the ICT equipment being utilised, with the highest internal room temperature recorded at 38C.
“Most of the existing spaces were not originally designed for academic use. Therefore there is an excess of smaller rooms not suitable for teaching.”
