College gives facelift to Rochdale town centre

Hopwood Hall College after the refurbishment

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Rochdale residents and visitors have an impressive new gateway to the town centre, thanks to a brand new look for the Hopwood Hall College campus.

The College has completed phase one of a dramatic £19m overhaul. Gone is the tired 1970s green and yellow exterior, which last looked exciting when students wore denim flares, hot pants and grooved to Slade and T-Rex in the Top Twenty.

The two campus buildings now have stylish slate-gray cladding and eco-friendly windows. There’s also a new more welcoming entrance and foyer and a brand new car park at the rear.

Saf Arfan, the College’s Director for Corporate Services, is delighted with the improvement: "The redevelopment will boost not only the quality of teaching and learning for our students, but also the long term sustainability of the site.”

Hopwood Hall College originally planned a much-needed £79m makeover for both its Rochdale and Middleton campuses, to be funded by the Learning and Skills Council as part of a national college building programme, but these hopes were put in jeopardy when the Government funding for the scheme was pulled. 

Saf says: “We are very grateful to Rochdale Council who came to the rescue with £3.3m part-funding. It was a huge team effort between the design team, contractor and college estates team. The project was delivered on time and within budget, with minimum interruption to college life.”