South Essex College's Centre for Digital Technologies at dusk, its folded pale cladding and full-height glazing at the building's leading corner

Further education

South Essex College Centre for Digital TechnologiesSFS design-and-build packageBasildon · Essex SS14

Dmitro Facades Ltd delivered a design-and-build SFS package for main contractor Morgan Sindall at South Essex College's Centre for Digital Technologies, a three-storey digital-education campus in Basildon town centre.

01 · The Centre for Digital Technologies' folded elevation, its full-height glazing catching the evening light at the building's leading corner.

At a glance

Package: SFS design-and-build package
Main contractor: Morgan Sindall Construction
Architect: Gibberd
Location: Basildon · Essex SS14
Completed: December 2020 · opened 2021

Dmitro Facades Ltd delivered a design-and-build SFS package for main contractor Morgan Sindall Construction at South Essex College's Centre for Digital Technologies, a three-storey, roughly 3,200 square metre digital-education campus on College Way in Basildon town centre. Subcontract, mobilisation and retention records support Dmitro's involvement from SFS design through delivery and final account. The wider scheme, designed by Gibberd for South Essex College with Basildon Council, Essex County Council and Homes England, was completed in December 2020 and formally opened on 21 October 2021.

Part of: SFS and façade packages across the South East

The Centre for Digital Technologies' concrete and steel frame under construction, with a tower crane above and site cabins in the foreground

The frame under construction, ahead of Dmitro’s SFS package.

The completed Centre for Digital Technologies exterior, its vertical ribbed cladding panels and full-height glazing at the entrance canopy

The same corner of the building on completion, clad and glazed.

South Essex College's Centre for Digital Technologies at dusk, its illuminated entrance and signage lit against the twilight sky

Open to as many as 500 students since 2021.

The Centre for Digital Technologies teaches IT networking, programming and app development, cyber security, games design and animation, from a new civic square linking into Basildon town centre and the station.

Delivery record

A new campus at the heart of Basildon, delivered through Covid.

Main contractor Morgan Sindall Construction broke ground on the Centre for Digital Technologies on 21 June 2019, delivering the campus for client South Essex College through the Pagabo framework, with Basildon Council, Essex County Council and Homes England funding the scheme alongside the college.

Dmitro Facades Ltd was instructed on the SFS design-and-build package on 11 November 2019 and started on site on 25 November 2019, carrying the package through to a retention invoice dated 18 March 2020.

The wider campus, designed by Gibberd, reached completion on 4 December 2020 and opened to students in 2021, with a formal opening on 21 October 2021. Morgan Sindall Construction reports it was delivered on time and within budget through the COVID-19 pandemic, scoring 10/10 across every measurable project KPI on the contract.

Project KPIs (Morgan Sindall, reported)10/10
Reported construction value≈£9 million
Gross internal area≈3,200 m²

Close view of the Centre for Digital Technologies' illuminated vertical glazed bays at dusk, set within pale ribbed cladding panels

The elevation’s illuminated glazed bays, seen close at dusk.

The Centre for Digital Technologies' full elevation at dusk, south essex college signage lit above the forecourt railings

The full elevation at dusk, the college’s signage lit above the forecourt.

Aerial view of the Centre for Digital Technologies among the surrounding buildings of Basildon town centre

Part of Basildon town centre's wider regeneration.

Built on the former Market Square site beside the railway station and bus hub, the campus released South Essex College's earlier site for a proposed 725-home residential redevelopment.

The elevation, in every condition

The cladding and glazing built off Dmitro's SFS frame reads differently through Basildon's weather: wet tarmac under a grey sky on one side of the building, clear blue sky and the town's older buildings on the other.

The Centre for Digital Technologies on a wet, overcast morning, its ground-floor glazing lit and a road marked SLOW in the foreground — The building on a wet winter morning, its ground floor lit from within.

The Centre for Digital Technologies under a clear blue sky, the south essex college signage visible beside an older town-centre building — The building under a clear sky, beside Basildon's older town-centre buildings.

Inside the finished campus

Dmitro's package was the SFS frame behind the elevation; the interior fit-out pictured here, from the atrium stair to the specialist teaching suites, was delivered by others on the wider Morgan Sindall contract, including Sharp (interior fit-out, AV and furniture) and Dacorum Contracts (drylining, suspended ceilings and acoustic rafts), and is shown only as context for the completed campus.

The glazed atrium stair inside the Centre for Digital Technologies, rising through the building's three storeys under an exposed concrete soffit — The atrium stair, rising through the campus's three storeys.

A student breakout space inside the Centre for Digital Technologies, with yellow furniture and enclosed pod seating for group work — A student breakout space, with pod seating for group work.

A computer classroom inside the Centre for Digital Technologies, rows of desks and monitors set up for IT and networking teaching — A specialist teaching room, fitted out for networking and computing.

Acoustic ceiling baffles and orange breakout seating inside the Centre for Digital Technologies, overlooking the atrium stair

The campus's acoustic ceiling baffles and breakout seating, overlooking the atrium stair. Interior fit-out shown as context, not Dmitro's scope.

South Essex College Centre for Digital Technologies, framed by Dmitro.

Basildon, Essex SS14

Main contractor: Morgan Sindall Construction
Architect: Gibberd
Client and owner: South Essex College
Funding partners: Basildon Council · Essex County Council · Homes England

Photography: Morgan Sindall Construction

Part of: SFS and façade packages across the South East