The Cauldron: Why demolish when you can refurbish?

Earlier this year I visited my old secondary school ‘Warblington’ in Hampshire. Built in 1956 and often ridiculed for its ugliness, I was surprised to learn the property had been Grade II listed in 2019 by Historic England because of architectural and historic interest. My brother and I were given a tour by the current school secretary, and we wandered the corridors and trod the old staircases in awe. It had expanded, modernised and developed but the core shell was the same. That’s what can be achieved when existing public buildings are maintained; why knock down when the sensible and more cost-effective thing would be to reuse and recycle?

The argument that it is "cheaper to demolish and rebuild" rather than renovate is frequently a fallacy driven by profit motives or a desire for a blank slate. While starting from scratch offers predictability, this approach often ignores the high hidden costs of demolition and where to dump all the waste. In Gibraltar, existing, solid structures do not seem to be valued as they should.

Two years ago, government awarded a tender for the ‘New Gibraltar Development Plan’: “The plan is meant to shape the future of Gibraltar. It will show where new development should go and how it should be built so that Gibraltar can provide new housing, support businesses and new jobs, and secure infrastructure improvements over the next 10-15 years. In doing so, it will need to protect and improve Gibraltar’s unique heritage and valuable environment and biodiversity.”

Locking the stable door after the horse has bolted immediately springs to mind. Where is this promised new plan and why has it taken so long to replace the former 2009 version? One of the biggest achievements of the GSLP/Liberals was to make the Development & Planning Commission (DPC) meetings open and transparent where the public could view all the mechanisms (and machinations). However, it’s difficult to keep track of all the different projects, the appeals, the re-submissions, the changes, the loopholes. The ongoing explosion of high-rise blocks of luxury flats calls into question the judgement of town planning over the last ten years.

The Gibraltar College of Further Education is still in use but, like many public buildings, has been neglected. Unlike offices schools and colleges close for weeks over the summer allowing time and space for intensive yearly maintenance. This has clearly not happened and now the government, rather than refurbish and repair an existing building, has chosen to build a brand-new college. Their 2019 manifesto sold the area behind the Cross of Sacrifice as the ideal site, opening "no later than September 2025". Yet in March 2025 the Department of Education described the Cross of Sacrifice location as “a complex site" for development and the new college will now be built at Europa Point.

The earmarked plot on Harding’s Road (formerly St. Christopher’s School playground) is presently vacant. Readers may recall in August 2023 the government released detailed plans for ‘St Christopher’s Lodge’ a new accommodation centre to provide 256 beds for the homeless. That essential project has since been scrapped, and the parcel of land will now be used for a college.
Constructing a college next door to a university and a sports complex in the wide-open space of Europa Point may sound like a great idea but, and of course there’s a but, this is totally the wrong location. The Gibraltar College works in tandem with Bayside and Westside Comprehensives as it offers courses not available in the traditional schools. Many students travel between the institutions during the day, and this can prove challenging even now at the existing location at South Bastion, Line Wall Road. It’s a known known that the first and most important point when choosing a site for a new college was always: It must be within walking distance of the comprehensive schools so all pupils can easily attend classes.

The only bus on that route is the No 2 which runs every 15 minutes and takes around half an hour to travel from Market Place to Europa Point. Imagine being a student trying to get to your A-Level Psychology class on time? When questioned about these logistical hurdles we are told the solution is to provide more buses and/or change the school timetables. Really? No matter how many buses are running it still takes too long to get from A to B, and it simultaneously adds to road use and traffic congestion (Greener Gibraltar anyone?) Changing a timetable is not easy, the hours teachers spend juggling slots is tough enough already and now they will have to factor in travel times due to a very strange decision by the government.

The new college project promises evening classes and extra vocational courses for all. No good if the buses stop running at 9pm! There’s a reason the government thought the ideal site for a public college was on the corner of Devil’s Tower Road, that’s because it would be walking distance from the schools and easy to get to 24/7 for everybody. It is peculiar to suddenly move a community/educational centre right to the other end of the Rock and in turn make it difficult to reach.

In the past five years there has been a clear population shift with many young families now living at Europa Point, yet the nearest school is St. Joseph’s at South Barracks a long way off and very awkward to get to. The MOD vacated St. Christopher’s School in pristine condition with modern facilities which our government should have pounced on immediately and opened as a new local school. Why didn’t they? Gibraltar has a supply list bursting with unemployed teachers, parents who want to walk their kids to school in their catchment area, kids who would benefit from extra space, and an empty school building. Pardon the pun but: ‘Do the math!’

The old St. Christopher’s is now being used by the university but the vacant plot at Harding’s Road suggested for the college would be ideal for a new First School/Nursery/Day Centre. Since the year 2000 Europa Point has evolved from an MOD community to deserted wasteland to thriving new residential district. The café and park are busy year-round, the sports complex is buzzing with activity, the university continues to develop and grow. There’s places of worship and recreation yet it lacks a convenience store, community centre and school. Government needs to start putting people and community first when making crucial planning decisions.

There are legitimate questions hanging over the college project and there’s still time to stop it in favour of a school which would better serve the Europa Point zone. What’s going to happen to the existing college block on South Bastion? More demolition, more rubble, more waste, another block of luxury flats built on that plot. The environmentally friendly solution would be to spend this summer completely refurbishing and expanding the college we already have. People talk about buildings being over 40 years old as if it’s a negative. Some of the most prestigious education facilities in the world are housed in ancient buildings.