ANDOVER College has lodged plans to demolish a historic home and expand its existing skills and technology centre.

The college, part of the Sparsholt College Group, has applied to tear down Cricklade House and erect a single-storey extension to its technology and future skills centre.

The education provider said it needs to increase the provision of teaching facilities for new T-Level 3 bricklaying and carpentry courses.

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In a planning statement, the college said: “Existing facilities are located within the Technology and Future Skills Centre (TFSC) on Andover Campus, a modern two-storey building constructed in 2016 providing industry-standard workshops and classrooms for bricklaying, motor vehicle, electrical and carpentry courses along with staff accommodation and general purpose classrooms.

“The existing workshop facilities are for Level 1 and Level 2 students, additional teaching space is now required on Andover Campus for T-Level 3 teaching which is a completely new area of provision and which cannot be accommodated within the current available workshop spaces on the Andover College Campus.”

The extension to the Future Technology and Skills Centre is partially funded with a grant of £1.026m from the Department for Education (DfE) via the T-Level Capital Fund – which is 50 per cent of the total project cost.

The statement continued: “Andover College is currently over spaced when assessed against the DfE space guidance, although it is anticipated that this will be addressed through the significant redevelopment of the campus which is being planned in conjunction with Test Valley Borough Council as part of the Andover Town Centre regeneration scheme.”

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The existing bricklaying activities will be relocated to the extension which will provide 65 teaching spaces, with the existing carpentry workshop extended into the previous bricklaying workshop to provide additional teaching spaces.

The college says that Cricklade House is “not conducive to teaching, as it provides rooms that are insufficient in both size and condition, it was deemed that this building is the most appropriate accommodation for demolition.”

It added: “Without the demolition of the Cricklade House, the college will not be able to progress the project, the benefit to learners and investment in training facilities in Andover will be lost and the college’s ability to address the skills needs of employers restricted.”