Bolton College

The recent £90m development undertaken by Bolton Community College has provided 3 state of the art, college buildings on their Deane Road Campus, at the heart of the Town’s  £300 million innovation zone. Wood&Wood Signs won the contract for all the internal and external education signs throughout this new facility based on our track record in this sector and our competitively priced solution.

As a top provider of vocational training in the North West, Bolton College had a new identity created to celebrate the provision of learning resources to school leavers, adults, community groups and businesses. Their striking new logo forms the main building signs standing at 3 metres high and manufactured in day/night acrylic, which is black in the day and illuminates with changing colour LED illumination at night. This system allows the colour to be changed to enhance the logo. In preparation for the installation our technical department designed a special framework to support the building signage, this required our early involvement so we could drill directly into the substrate and site the frame behind the building’s cladding. Five DMX control units were also wired in during the build phase to control the LED illumination.

Wood&Wood provided education wayfinding advice throughout the project and as the building evolved we made changes to ensure the signage scheme was effective in helping students to move around this busy site. Working in close partnership with the College and BAM Construction, the main contractor, meant that we were able to deliver against schedules and budgets. For the external education signs a fingerpost was selected from Wood&Wood’s Via range and customised to reflect the College’s identity providing a unique directional post, cost effectively.

Internally directional signage was equally important with a Modular Signage System featuring tactile and Braille graphics to provide accessibility across the campus. Each department is denoted with built up polished stainless steel letters and contemporary signs manufactured in powder coated stainless steel were used to add personality to the conceptual designs of the refreshment areas; Diversity & Signature.

With its signage in place this hi tec learning zone was ready for its high profile opening, which was recently carried out by HRH The Duke of Kent.