Hopwood Hall College unveils plans for new four-storey building in Rochdale

Friday, 20 June 2025 08:32

By George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter

CGI of how the new Hopwood Hall College building in Rochdale could look

Hopwood Hall College is set to have a huge campus overhaul after revealing plans to replace a teaching block.

If approved, the new teaching block on the Rochdale campus would be four-storeys high and accommodate between 800-900 students and staff.

Once open, the building overlooking St Marys Gate will provide new classrooms, studios, laboratories, workshops, catering school and other teaching facilities alongside a lecture hall, staff facilities and new main college entrance.

It would cater for a range of subjects for 16-19 year olds such as art & design, catering, T-Levels, film design and provision of Higher Education teaching facilities.

Once work on the new ‘highly energy efficient building’ is complete, the process to demolish the existing Block B will start. This will include bulldozing an outbuilding (“Block C”) and remodelling of the link building between current Blocks A and B.

Once the demolition is complete the area will be landscaped over for the use of students. According to planning papers, this area may be redeveloped for a replacement building to Block A in the future, but that is not connected to this project or currently funded for delivery.

Planning papers read: “Hopwood Hall College has a vision to be a 21st Century college with a strong presence in Rochdale town centre; to develop its higher education provision and learning spaces; and develop its curriculum including new T-Levels.

“Through the new building it aspires to deliver industry-standard designed spaces for the highest level of education and an inclusive environment to support all learners and all styles of learning.”