Bournemouth: 20-22 Christchurch Road

Image: © Chris Downer Taken: 11 Dec 2007

Dorset House shares its name with a guest house in Holdenhurst Road, flats in Dean Park Road and the main campus of Bournemouth University in Talbot Village, all fairly nearby. Built in the mid-1960s, from 16 December 1990 it had been the eastern office of Dorset LEA, which included the towns of Bournemouth and Poole until 1 April 1997 when Bournemouth became a unitary authority. It thus became the headquarters of Bournemouth Borough Council's Local Education Authority (LEA) and remained so until the LEA vacated the building in December 2009, transferring staff to the Town Hall under a borough-wide accommodation review. Dorset House then lay empty until 2013 when it was acquired by Parkfield School, opened under the Government's 'free school' scheme whereby local groups could establish a state-funded school financed direct from central government rather than under local authorities. Parkfield intend to use the premises for up to two years while permanent accommodation is identified. The site used to be a petrol station, which explains why the dropped kerbs at the car-park access either side of the building (not visible here) extend beyond the driveways and in front of the building. To the left is Image

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