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A College of Further and Higher Education (Berkshire College of Agriculture)
A College of Further and Higher Education (Berkshire College of Agriculture)
Since 1948, there has been a continuous programme of restoration, extension and development of the Berkshire College of Agriculture, renamed as such in 1968 and now operating as BCA. Over the years that Hall Place has been a college, efforts have been made to preserve the character of the estate whilst fulfilling the educational needs and requirements of generations of students.
A programme of refurbishment, conversion, the introduction of new practical resources and a building renewal programme was undertaken during the 1970s and 1990s. Teaching and hostel accommodation was added in the ’70s; the building of extensive equestrian facilities.
The College has been successful in being able to refurbish and revitalise many of the old buildings and rooms in the Mansion and surrounding Victorian buildings. The original buildings continue to make a valuable contribution towards supporting a young and thriving community, often far removed from their original purpose and design.
As the College curriculum evolved during the 1990s and with an expanding range of work there was an urgent necessity to invest in new resources. The Victorian and post-1990s farm buildings at Top Farm, to the west of the estate were sold and reinvested through a major capital building programme at the centre of the campus. The Learning Centre with teaching, accommodation for Higher Education, and incorporating a new college reception, and an Animal Management Centre on the site of the old pigs’ units, the focus for teaching and practical training for all animal-related programmes are the impressive results of that investment. The buildings are designed to meet criteria for up-to-date learning styles and practical training within the aesthetic setting created by the Mansion, thus creating an imposing, modern and welcoming campus for students and visitors.
This initial phase of a planning building programme completed in 2006, creates an up to date learning environment with the capacity to evolve and take advantage of new technologies; new buildings with new purpose, a theme that would be recognised and applauded by the lawyer from Kennington as he built his house celebrating a new political and economic era of his own time.
The College maintains traditions and an ethos that would be familiar to the East family, the management of the land, animals, plants and people. Modern approaches applied to management, utilising new technologies with an ever-expanding knowledge base integrated with traditional skills and values.
The family community of Victorian times is now an exciting and vibrant student community making full use of the legacy and assets of the estate at Hall Place, the home of BCA a regional specialist college of Further and Higher Education.
The estate of Hall Place has never seen important historical events take place on its soil; however, it has provided an uninterrupted background of stability for generations of the local community, contributing to British rural and social life. It is intended that future developments continue the tradition of care for this living piece of the British countryside.
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