EXCITED Bexley councillors got their first taste of the plans for the new Bexley Business Academy, designed by renowned architect, Sir Norman Foster.

Foster is responsible for the acclaimed Great Court at the British Museum and London's millennium bridge and Bexley's new landmark independent state school.

Phase one of the multi-million pound project has been given the go-ahead by Bexley councillors, to ensure a new building will be ready for the opening of the academy in September next year.

It will replace Thamesmead Community College in Yarnton Way, and eventually all the old school buildings, built in the early 1970s, will be demolished.

Bexley councillors were anxious the new school should be a landmark building at the very cutting edge of design.

The first phase will be only 10 per cent of the eventual academy buildings.

It will be used for teaching, a resource centre and restaurant, in conjunction with the existing school buildings, until the rest of the academy is finished in September 2003.

The three-storey building will be made of UV filtered glass, with a flat roof. There will be a covered terrace to provide a sheltered external area for the restaurant and one side of the building will be a solid metal-clad wall which will be removed during the second phase.

The rooms with glazed walls will be protected from the sun by coloured metal louvres which, depending on how they are adjusted, will create a variety of different external appearances.

When phase two of the building is finished, an ecological garden area will cover the flat roof.

Eventually, the classroom areas will stretch in long fingers along the building, with huge glazed top lit courtyards in between. There will be no corridors

"We are trying to make a statement for education buildings. We owe it to the 21st and 22nd century," said Councillor John Easthaugh. The plans for the first phase were unanimously approved.

December 19, 2001 16:30