In September last year, the new Wentworth Building at our town centre campus opened its doors following a year in the making.

The £7 million facility is a ‘green icon’ on South Yorkshire’s skyline as its stunning design works hand-in-hand with energy efficiency and the environment.

The new build forms part of our long term plan to develop the Town Centre Campus. The modern building which homes high quality classrooms and state-of-the-art facilities secures the College’s place at the forefront of learning and skills.

We work with over 600 business partners and the building offers further opportunities to work collaboratively on training and skills development with the wide range of partners.

Behind the scenes, additional elements make the building unique in making it environmentally friendly and cost effective.

From planning stages, the building followed the BREEAM rating framework - the world's leading environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings. As a result the building contains a series of environmentally friendly initiatives.

Gill Alton, Principal and Chief Executive of the College said: “Looking after our environment is vitally important and we wanted our students to share the ‘green’ experience and provide them with alternative, more environmentally friendly facilities.

“Opening up opportunities to businesses will help not only help with our relationship with the business community, it will also cement a brighter future for our students.”

The heating and ventilation is controlled by a computer which allows the building to automatically cool itself using vents in the roof and all domestic hot water is heated by the solar water heating system.

The building is designed to utilise as much natural resource as possible.

We ensure that energy efficiency awareness is at the forefront of student’s minds. Solar PV cells power some of the power sockets within the building and as a result are marked green so students can charge their phones with ‘free’ electricity.

Feathered friends in Rotherham are also looked after with the development of a ‘brown roof’ to help attract new wildlife and blend in with the surroundings.

The Wentworth Building Opening