Five-year-old building has �8million asking price

The College of North West London is planning to sell two of its four buildings in a bid to plug funding gaps.

The college, which has four main buildings – two in Wembley, and one apiece in Kilburn and Willesden – has already put one building on the market and has told the Times that plans are in place for a second.

The Kilburn campus in Priory Park Road opened in 2007 but closed three years later.

The �5.5million building, which scooped an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects, has now been put on the market by estate agents Knight Frank.

The firm says that it expects the site to sell for a fee of around �8million.

Paul Skitt, head of business development and marketing at the college, said: “The plan is to reinvest the money from the sale of the Kilburn campus into the Willesden building.

“At the moment some of it is fit for purpose but the plan is to reinvest the money to give it even better facilities for our students.

“There are already some state of the art buildings, but it needs a general upgrade

Mr Skitt told the Times that plans were also in motion to sell Arena House in Wembley Park.

He said: “We hope the refurbishment of Crescent House would be complete fairly soon, but we can’t give a definitive move date yet.

“The college operation would move in to Crescent House once fully refurbished and Arena House would then be sold to further fund the development of Willesden and Wembley.

“It is a really ambitious plan and we are trying to invest in our Willesden and Wembley sites. This is not a step back by any means.”

At the time the Kilburn campus was closed, the college said it had to find ways of plugging a �3.2million gap in funding, following cuts from the now defunct Learning and Skills Council.

Campaigners at the time called for the sale of one of the Wembley buildings – a sentiment they still hold.

Indro Sen, college branch secretary for the University and College Union, said: “We still believe that Kilburn is a viable site for a college and call for the sale of both Wembley sites.

“Wembley will be well served with education but this part of Kilburn is still in dire need.”