Artwork brings colour to college’s new £50m campus

Designed by the college’s artists in residence, former students Sharon Middleton and Heather Keen, the colourful umbrella artwork can be seen from most classrooms in the newly-opened building.

A college spokesman said yesterday: “The umbrellas cascade down from the ceiling and make quite a big impact.”

The college building was officially opened for this academic year after seven years of planning and two years of construction.

The nine-storey block is one of only 13 projects out of 144 proposed across the country to reach completion after a cash crisis hit the further education sector.

In 2009, the Learning and Skills Council, which has now been scrapped, had to announce that it did not have the money for many schemes to go ahead, bringing projects to a grinding halt.

Barnsley’s rebuild was already under way, meaning that local MPs and senior staff had to make the case to Downing Street for cash to be found.

Welcoming 6,000 students into the building for the first time earlier this month, principal Colin Booth said the opening was a “landmark in the history of Barnsley College and the town”.