Lowestoft College is a further education college serving the Waveney district of Suffolk and provides vocational training to school leavers and mature students. It offers a broad curriculum and in particular courses in boat building, commercial and construction trades. A preliminary campus development plan had already been prepared when the College appointed OWL Architects in 2004. This was expanded and modified to examine phasing, spatial requirements and the visual appearance of the college in much greater detail. This study informed the brief and design of the Phase 1 Engineering Building now known as the Christopher Cockerell Centre. Important to the brief was the projection of a forward-looking image; the building had to be contemporary, durable and occupy a campus that encouraged interaction. The College also had to satisfy expectations of its role as a satellite of University Campus Suffolk and the requirements of the LSC who part funded the project. A long-term solution to access and parking problems was also important and this led to the orientation of the new building away from the existing campus and to the creation of a new approach and landscaped area to the north of the site. The teaching accommodation comprises a series of workshops arranged over two storeys connected by a spine corridor or arcade. At its northern end the building is finished with a larger three-storey block containing classroom and administration space and to the south it joins an existing College building; the junction between the two enclosed by a covered circulation space. The building's massing was generated both by site constraints and the need to provide large open areas capable of flexible division. Whilst a robust monolithic form was adopted on the northern facade to impart a strong and dignified character on approach the whole building is sunk by almost a metre to reconcile existing ground levels and to mitigate the impact on neighbouring properties. Large clear spans together with a limited time frame in which to procure and build the centre led to the selection of steel framing as the preferred structural solution. The workshops are formed from a repetitive series of frames supporting pre-cast floor planks with a secondary longitudinal bay forming the arcade on the eastern facade. This arrangement allowed for the early roofing in of the structure and the installation of supports for the terracotta wall cladding. A giant order column and beam arrangement is employed on the north eastern facade and the heavy stone panels forming the atrium and entrance front are supported by an arrangement of trussed uprights and spandrel members. To reduce the overall load of the building the second floor in this area employs a lighter frame with engineered timber roof joists. The building was to be as environmentally efficient as possible and is predominately naturally lit and ventilated. This was complicated by the requirement that perimeter walls, particularly those at first floor level, were to be utilised for benching and teaching bays and therefore precluded fenestration. A series of linear roof lights and clerestory ribbon windows were therefore adopted. The roofs of the arcade corridor and north block are finished in Sedum. Rainwater from the aluminium workshop roof is collected in a tank located to the north of the site for use in WCs and workshop sinks and all other surface water is disposed of on site. Under floor heating and hot water is warmed by a series of gas fired boilers in a plant room sized to service adjacent buildings as part of a de-centralised district heating system. This is supplemented by roof mounted solar collectors which raise the ambient temperature of the water prior to heating. These systems are complemented by high thermal performance in the fabric. It was always our intention that the building provide an environment that was a little more inspirational than a straightforward shed and treated its users with some value.