Kingston College bosses are looking at properties in the town centre to aid their expansion plan.

Student numbers have increased by 23 per cent over the past four years and are expected to grow further, prompting a call for more space.

Since the college came out of the local education authority in 1993, there have been two main college sites at Kingston Hall Road and Richmond Road, as well as a presence in the North Kingston Centre, but it is slowly spreading through the town.

There are 3,000 sixth form students, 1,400 university students and a large number of adult students studying at the college.

Deputy principal Roger Lowe said: “The governors have stressed they want us to stay in the town centre and want us to stay in the town centre and want us to be seen as part of the town.

“To do that we need to address additional accommodation.”

The college has already acquired Anstee House, the former administrative centre of Bentalls which lay empty for eight years, and it has now been transformed into a centre for fashion, media and English tuition.

The lease for the former Reevethorpe Renault dealership was also snapped up for skills training in automotive, plumbing and sustainable energies, as one of the few plots of land available close to the main Kingston Hall Road campus.

On the other side of college roundabout, the college’s administrative departments have moved into the Unilever building.

Mr Lowe said: “Acquiring these three new sites has increased our floor space by about 15 per cent. The Kingston Hall Road and Richmond Road sites are still in need of some serious attention.

“The art school at Richmond Road gets great results despite the accommodation, not because of it. We certainly can’t continue like this.”

An estimated £3m has been spent on the three sites, but it was a struggle after funding from the Building Colleges for the Future programme dried up earlier this year.

Sharing resources to ease financial stress, the college has teamed up with Tolworth Girls’ School and allowed its GCSE pupils to attend its NVQ hairdressing and beauty course.

The school now have funding to develop their own centre on their school site and the college will help them and provide teaching staff.

Mr Lowe added: “We are a key provider of educational training for many local people, and our message is that we want to continue to be part of the town.

“We aren’t just a building that happens to be in Kingston town centre - the college is an integral part of the Kingston scene.”

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