London's Camberwell College of Arts set for £62m facelift

An arts college whose alumnae include singer Florence Welch, pictured, and painter Maggi Hambling will have a £62 million revamp that will see its distinctive “brutalist” exterior made friendlier and more welcoming.

Camberwell College of Arts’ imposing concrete Sixties building on Peckham Road will be transformed with a new glass front and public courtyard. The college, part of the University of the Arts London, will also get a new glass-fronted building with a lecture theatre, studios, library and gallery. The college’s first hall of residence will be built behind the site at a cost of £35 million.