HTH first for breaking news

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

I've noticed that despite all the property it now has in the town, the college of Art phone number remains 01642 ... still the subsidiary ....?

The main campus is at Green Lane in Middlesbrough - the Hartlepool site is geared towards higher education.  I enjoyed learning basic silversmithing at the Church Square site - to be recommended.

[Inspector Knacker]

But which is now the bigger site....?

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

But which is now the bigger site....?

Well, the Hartlepool site is distinctly 'compact', so I reckon the Green Lane one to be the larger - it certainly acts as the administrative base.

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

My daughter who is of primary school age could not understand why they had to knock down the HCFE.

I also don't understand why it couldn't be used for the accommodation they supposedly need.

People are rarely sensible when they are spending other peoples money.

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

Understand where you're coming from Stig, but certain parts of the building were in a dreadful state, with wind whistling through great gaps around the window frames and cracks in the walls.  Maybe we didn't need quite so fancy a building as we ended up with, but the other one was probably past economic repair and preservation.

[Inspector Knacker]

The old HCFE building was only forty years old, the two additions only fifteen years old. As for the original building, a properly maintained building of that age should have no problems.

[mk1]

I remember the building work for the HCFE when I was at primary school and that would make building  it around 1963ish . It features in an air view  taken in 1967.

That makes it 50 rather than 40!

[testing times]

The new IT block was only finished in 1999 and cost £15m - it lasted 13 years before being demolished. Are we really saying that it couldn't have been incorporated into the new design?
Give it a few years and they'll be saying that they need more space and will be after more public money to build something very similar to the building they've just flattened.
It's only money.......

[Inspector Knacker]

I remember the building work for the HCFE when I was at primary school and that would make building  it around 1963ish . It features in an air view  taken in 1967.

That makes it 50 rather than 40!

50?...40?....... it should still be a perfectly functional building. A shiny new building reflects well on those involved in it's creation, maintaining a building is a pain in the a**e and there's no plaudits.