Work starts this summer on Kent County Council’s first purpose-built lifelong learning
and community campus at The Bridge.
The campus is being seen as a big plus for the combined housing and commercial development
near Dartford. It will provide a unique facility for residents and business in the
shadow of the QEII Bridge.
At the heart will be a primary school for up to 420 children. It has a striking
ship’s funnel design for the main reception in keeping with the area’s association
with the Thames.
Provision will be made for a 26-place nursery on site, there will be a first-floor
youth centre specialising in music and the arts, adult education facilities and
a library access point.
The campus will have a community meeting room, a school kitchen which will also
serve visitors, a health consulting room, a police point, and children’s and adult
social services.
Special facilities have been included for people with disabilities including hoists
and a sensory room.
The school’s environmental features will include a central atrium designed in the
style of a mini-Eden Project, rainwater harvesting and energy conservation measures.
Frequent Fastrack buses take only six minutes to reach the site from Dartford. Once
there, the emphasis at The Bridge is on keeping car use to a minimum and making
it easy to walk around the site.
Construction will take about a year and it is expected that the school’s first pupils
will start in September 2009.