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downsmail.co.uk UCAquits town aer 150 years
THE University for the Creative Arts in Maidstone is to close after teaching students for 150 years. The remaining 201 students will
clear their desks at Oakwood Park for the last time on July 4 after an illustrious career for the college, with alumni including the late Tony Hart, Tracey Emin and Mar- tin Handsworth, who illustrated the interactive Where'sWally? chil-
dren’s books. Founded in 1867, it moved to
Oakwood Park in 1970. It also taught a specialist five-year print- making course, unique to Maid- stone. In 1987, the college joined Can- terbury and Rochester, then be- came the University of Creative Arts in 2005. According to Penny Heath, who hasworked on the site
Work starts on transformation WORK has begun on transforming the former UCA building in Maidstone. The £12 million contract to redevelop MidKentCollege’s centre for higher-
level skills has been won by the international construction serv- ices company ISG. The building will be equipped
with state-of-the-art facilities in- cluding engineering workshops, art studios and a creative media suite, as well as training kitchens, a restaurant and bar. The project is due for com-
pletion by July 2015. College principal Sue McLeod said: “Having recently invested more than
£100 million in our Medway and Maidstone campuses, it was only natural that the centre for higher-level skills would be next to benefit.” The refurbishment of the former UCA building is phase two of the rede-
velopment of the Maidstone campus. Phase three will involve the building of a commercial sports centre.
for nearly 20 years, with this status came the “kiss of death”. She said: “Once cloned with two
Kent sites and Epsom and Farnham in Surrey, a slow but sure process saw services and courses with- drawn from Maidstone in favour of other sites. Staff faced a stark choice of redundancy or re-location.” Classroom space has been leased
at Oakwood Park for UCA since 2011, when the campuswas bought by MidKent College. The lease comes to an end on July 31. The Green Party’s Parliamentary candidate, Stuart Jeffery, says he fears the university will go the same way as the Kent Music School, which moved out of Astley House, Hastings Road, Maidstone, after permissionwas granted to re- place it with 25 homes in 2010. He said: “Maidstone has been
PLANNING permission has been granted for a sports hall and leisure centre at MidKent College. The facility will contain a gym,
four badminton courts, two ther- apy rooms, two dance studios, seat- ing area and reception. It will be serviced by a car park on land va-
associated with the UCAfor many years and it would make sense to capitalise on this relationship, either by persuading the UCA to change its mind or by bringing a new college in. Sadly, there is little interest from councillors or MPs.” Mrs Heath, from Tonbridge
Road, Maidstone, said: “I feel it will be hard for the town to be a ‘centre for creative arts with jobs in the cre- ative industries’without an institu- tion for creative excellence.” Angela Chadwick, from the
UCA, says the college’s presence in Maidstone would live on through its collaboration with Maidstone Television Studios, where it runs degree programmes in interactive media production, media business management and television pro- duction. Its other courses will move to Canterbury and Rochester.
Sports centre plan is agreed
cated by the proposed demolition of block C, formerly part of the University for the Creative Arts. Maidstone Council granted con-
sent, on condition that at least 10% of the site’s energy consumption will be derived from renewable or low-carbon sources.
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