Public Buildings • Sutton College
Sutton College is a vital educational resource for the Sutton community, providing hundreds of adult education courses to thousands of people during its 50-year history.
In recent years the college has operated from inside the Civic Centre, but our proposals for a new, purpose-built facility at the northern end of the Sutton High Street will provide it with a public presence, acting as a gateway to the pedestrianised shopping area and a beacon for the wider regeneration programme.
Across four floors and 2,200 square metres, the new building will include 10 teaching spaces plus ancillary facilities and staff offices, as well as a terrace and courtyard garden.
Sutton College provides teaching and training for adults, helping learners move into employment and apprenticeships, and is currently based within the Civic Centre. The project will increase the college’s prominence, helping it attract new learners, and expand its reach into the local community.
The project forms part of an ambitious programme to revitalise Sutton Town Centre and has been supported by the Government’s Future High Streets Fund.
Before detailed design work began, RCKa held a range of public engagement events which resulted in a shared vision for the activation of Sutton High Street. The new building has been carefully designed to create a strong new identity while celebrating the site’s heritage and character of the conservation area in which it is located. The scheme is targeting a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) of “Outstanding”.
A simple, unified volume accentuates the presence of the building on the corner of the high street and articulation of the north and west elevations responds to the local vernacular and high street frontage.
Within these elevations, grouped arched lintels are applied across two central registers, responding to the original arrangement of the fenestration in the existing building. A circular feature window creates a distinct identity for the college and acts as a focal point that responds to townscape views, allowing dramatic views northwards from the upper floors. A central atrium provides passive ventilation to the offices and teaching areas, and a visual connection between each of the floors.
An enclosed courtyard to the rear provides spill-out space for events and teaching, and the main building is flanked by a lightweight garden pavilion containing a cycle store and a secondary entrance providing access to the new Elm Grove housing scheme/development immediately to the south. The roof of this pavilion features a horticultural terrace and outdoor learning space.
A planning application was submitted in July 2025, and a decision is due later this summer. Sutton Council has committed to delivering the project using a traditional procurement contract, thereby ensuring that the design quality is followed through into construction.
Looking south down Sutton High Street
Looking south down Sutton High Street
2,200sqm of teaching space
Targeting BREEAM "Outstanding"
10 new flexible classrooms and teaching spaces
Client
London Borough of Sutton / Sutton College
Status
Planning Application Submitted
Location
Sutton, London
Collaborators
Structural Engineer: Conisbee
Project Management: Cushman & Wakefield
Ecology Consultant: Greengage
Landscape Architecture: Studio ONB
Transport Consultant: Markides Associates
Planning Consultant: Savills
Fire Consultant: Trigon
M&E / Sustainability Consultant: XC02
Project Team
Chris Barnes
Samuel Letchford
Oliver Simpson
Dieter Kleiner