Our proposals
Benefits for Oaklands, our students, and the local community
The opportunity to deliver improvements to the College will enable students who are attending now and, in the future, and generations to come, to have a learning environment that meets their needs and allow the College to continue delivering excellence in education. Many of the proposals also provide benefit to the wider community and not just those studying or working at the College.
The proposal offers an exciting opportunity to enhance Oaklands’ historic campus with multiple community benefits.
Benefits of the development
The changes will deliver a number of key benefits including:
- A Creative Gateway: Facilities to support training for the future talent needed for Hertfordshire’s booming film and TV industry.
- Restoration of the Mansion House: Preserving its historic character for future generations.
- Improved Community Spaces: The redevelopment will create accessible, inclusive spaces promoting happiness and wellbeing, including a vibrant College Square for community gatherings, upgraded sports facilities for all, and an improved animal care centre for educational and family activities. These enhancements will strengthen community ties and support physical and mental wellbeing.
- Place Making: A revitalised campus that serves as a hub for education and creativity at the heart of the St Albans community.
- Expanded SEND Provision: A new High Needs Centre to support learners with special educational needs. With growing demand for SEND places in Hertfordshire, the new facilities will address this need, ensuring students receive tailored support, within their local community, to thrive.
- Promoting Health and Wellbeing: Updated recreational and sporting facilities for students, local sports clubs and community use.
Building for the future
A Vision for modern, digital, and sustainable education
The redevelopment will create a 21st-century campus, integrating cutting-edge technologies and modern facilities designed to meet the needs of today’s students and tomorrow’s industries.
- State-of-the-Art Teaching Facilities: Equipped to support vocational training, enhancing employability and skills development, as an inclusive and accessible organisation.
- Enhanced Digital Learning Spaces: Including Virtual Reality zones and AI-powered learning tools.
- Sustainable and SMART Technologies: New buildings will incorporate green technologies and SMART systems to create an innovative, connected learning environment.
- Community Access: Improved community access to sports, animal care, and creative facilities to promote health, happiness and wellbeing.
- Environmentally Focussed: The development of a sustainable and environmentally focussed estate as an exemplar for the communities we serve.
Collaboration
Fostering collaboration with local schools
Oaklands College has long collaborated with local secondary and primary schools to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities. The redevelopment will strengthen these partnerships by offering enhanced facilities that will help prepare young learners for the industries of the future, including film, TV, engineering, and more.
- Enrichment Opportunities: New workshops and teaching spaces will allow local schools to engage in practical, career-focused learning.
- Creating Pathways for Future Careers: We aim to inspire the next generation of students and support their transition from school to college and beyond.
College Square
Creative learning and flexible study spaces
There is currently no central hub to act as the focus point for the campus. A new College Square would act as a centre to connect the wider campus zones, with lawns and spill out spaces for outdoor learning and activities. It will include new flexible study space, a new digital learning space and a new creative building to bring the arts together.
The College Square would also be able to host ceremonies, pop-ups, student performances, and outdoor dining and community events.
Animal management
Creative learning and flexible study spaces
Many of the buildings currently used for animal management are outdated and undersized, necessitating improvements to enhance the quality of care.
We are proposing the construction of a new building which will improve learning, have dedicated classrooms and better facilities. There will be improved, dedicated animal enclosures with enhanced landscaping, a pond, and a netted aviary for bird displays.
Our Animal Management Centre which homes exciting animals like lizards, horses and lemurs, will be accessible to the public on the weekends and holiday periods, when previously it was only available on selected open days.
High needs
Educational needs and disabilities (SEND) facility
Hertfordshire currently lacks the facilities to accommodate young adults with high needs, forcing many to seek education outside the county. We aim to establish a space at Oaklands College that offers high-quality learning.
The existing Discovery Centre is too small to meet the increasing number of students with medical, emotional, and behavioural needs, and it lacks specialized support spaces. Our proposals include a purpose-built special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) facility designed to provide high-quality learning environments for students requiring significant support.
Sports hall and sports zone
Facilities built to host national competitions
Currently our facilities are too small to meet our needs, forcing teams to hire external facilities to train, which poses a challenge for our highly successful teams and community groups.
Our new proposals will create a new modern sports hall that will be suitable for national competitions. This facility will include full-size courts for college, club level and national standard sports, in addition to retractable seating to enable students to watch and learn. Other proposed facilities include:
- A dedicated martial arts centre, optimized for karate, taekwondo, fencing and other disciplines
- A new 4G all weather pitch
- New athletics track and field pitch
- Road cycling circuit
- New cricket pavilion and covered cricket lanes
Mansion House
A centre and venue for students and employers to use and enjoy
Mansion House is currently in a poor condition, and our goal is to bring its old grandeur back to life. As a landmark of historic significance at Oaklands College, the restoration aims to preserve its rich heritage while reviving the elegance and prominence it once held.
