K College Principal, Bill Fearon, has formally opened the £1/4 million refurbishment of the Cambia building in Dover at a champagne reception for members of the business community, councillors, governors, staff and parents.

The former Art College building had been used only for storage for many years and work began at the start of last summer to transform it into a 21st century learning centre.

Mr Fearon said: ‘It’s a very proud moment for me. It’s fantastic to see how this building has gone from an old derelict building to this 21st century, impressive centre. It was a dump but now it has been completely transformed.’

Plaster was falling off, and 47 windows had to be restored as well as complete re-wiring and other restoration of period features before the decorators could move in.

K College painting and decorating students, Ben Watts, Michael Chalmers and David Betts all worked on the project in their spare time. Then art students’ work was chosen to complement the themes of each floor.

Mr Fearon said: ‘The ground floor theme is the sea so you can see things like ferries and boats in the art, then the stairwell is waves and it morphs into birds in flight on the upper floor where we have the most wonderful skylight.’

Since it merged from South Kent College with West Kent College to form K College, nearly £2 million has been spent updating IT across campuses in five towns – Dover, Folkestone, Ashford, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.

In the new Cambia building in Dover, there is a web conferencing room so staff can link with those at other campuses for site to site online meetings.

Mr Fearon told guests at the opening that Cambia was there for the local community to use, and he hoped they would take full advantage. K Venue, which looks after bookings for all K college property,has a special rate for community groups.

County Councillor, Kit Smith, who is a K College governor, said: ‘Dover is the smallest of the college campuses and it is quite thrilling to see how this ambitious team has worked to meet the needs of the town. We are determined to succeed and engage with the community here.’

Sir David Melville, Vice Chancellor of the University of Kent and a K College governor, told guests that ‘this building is a signal of a renaissance and the start of something that is really wonderful’.

He reminded guests that more A Levels are studied in further education colleges than in schools in the UK. Dover campus is offering A Levels for the first time from September and many parents attended the opening to find out more about them. Sir David paid tribute to the truly dedicated team of staff at K College and said: ‘Opening this building is symbolic and it is an indication of intent, that college can change lives.’