• Swindon & Wiltshire Education, training and skills
• Tuesday October 20 2026

Plans for £5.9m Trowbridge campus expansion to go on display

Plans for a £5.9 million expansion of Wiltshire College & University Centre’s Trowbridge campus will go on show at the college’s open events at the campus on November 7.

The investment, first reported by Business Biscuit in September, will create a new digital and creative arts school and almost double the space available for teaching construction skills.

Visitors will be able to view proposals for the £4.3 million School for Digital and Creative Art and £1.6 million Construction Skills Centre, with both facilities due to welcome students next September.

The creative school will increase capacity by at least 25 per cent as applications reach unprecedented levels.

Owain Milford, Trowbridge head of faculty for technical and industry-focused education, said the investment would give students facilities that better reflect university and workplace environments.

“Nowhere will have the space and design that we will have,” he said. “I think we’ll be leading the South West, if not further afield, with provision that will be seen as the gold standard.”

The creative school will feature a 385sqm open-plan art studio, IT and media suites and an audiovisual studio.

An unused building will be converted and a mezzanine floor added, creating flexible studios where students can work on individual projects or collaborate across entire courses.

All creative courses at the campus will be housed in the building, alongside upgraded photography suites and print facilities. Media and computing provision will also be brought together under the college’s Tech Trowbridge offering.

“I think our students are really going to benefit because they will be better prepared for their next steps,” Milford said.

“That transition for our students from here into higher education or industry will be smaller because they’ll be more used to working in those spaces, with the relevant technology and processes.”

High ceilings will provide new opportunities to display artwork, while artificial lighting designed to mirror natural light will help students assess and exhibit their work.

The studios will be close to the Learning Resource Centre and Tech Trowbridge arena, providing access to research materials, lectures and guest speakers. Tutorial rooms and a dedicated lecturers’ area will sit alongside the art studio.

The investment follows the Foundation Arts course’s 50th anniversary.

“It’s a really exciting time for all of us because we’ve just celebrated those 50 years and now we’re saying ‘let’s do the next 50 years even bigger’,” Milford said.

The November 7 events will showcase the plans.