The College was founded in 1966 from the amalgamation of other educational institutions, including a branch institute of Battersea Polytechnic established in Tooting during 1901. The College specialised in degrees and diplomas in Accountancy, Business and Management Studies. In 1967 a Higher National Certificate and the first full time course, specifically designed for the resettlement of members of the armed services, was introduced in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence. The growth of the College saw work spread to a number of annexes, including a Congregational church in Rookstone Road, Wandsworth, a floor of Smallwood Road School, Garrett Lane, and a further school at 10 Wiseton Road. In 1979 the former site of Battersea Grammar School was secured near Tooting Broadway. The College was designated a Higher Education Centre under the Education Reform Act 1988 and by 1991 offered a range of sub-degree level work and good quality post experience courses in Management. With ongoing accommodation problems and a damning report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate on some of its provision the College's Board of Governors chose in 1990 to amalgamate with Thames Polytechnic. However in November the Secretary of State announced his intention to dissolve the College under the 1988 Education Reform Act and allowing higher education students to choose where they wished to complete their studies. Over 1000 students chose to transfer to South Bank Polytechnic and most of the College's staff followed suit, helping to form the Faculty of Management and Policy Studies. The extra staff were housed in Diary House on Borough Road.
The London County Council School of Building was opened on 26th February 1904 with Mr H W Richards as Principal to provide a specialist training college for the large number of building workers in Camberwell and Lambeth. The Lambeth Polytechnic building in Ferndale Road, Brixton was renovated to contain workshops for painting and decorating, carpentry and joinery and a drawing office. When it first opened, 643 students enrolled on classes covering stone carving, plasterers' modelling, drawing, chemistry and physics of building materials, land surveying and levelling. The School soon gained a world-wide reputation as a centre of excellence in the fields of town planning, building technology, estate management and building architecture.
In 1906 a school of architecture was added which was organised by Professor Beresford Pite of the Royal Academy of Art. Demand for courses increased rapidly so that in 1908 the School added a Junior Day Technical College for Boys and then a Senior Day Technical School as well as a new extension in 1909. In 1910 five-year courses were introduced in all trade subjects, followed in 1911 by a four year course in reinforced concrete and in 1912 a course in structural engineering all examined by the City and Guilds of London Institute. In 1921 Mr A R Sage became Principal (the Sage Medallion was in the possession of the former Vauxhall College). In 1922, Sir Robert Blair (LCC Education Officer) wrote, 'the Brixton School is easily the first and most complete school of building in the world'. In 1927 until 1943 Mr F E Drury became Principal. The Board of Education classified the School as a College of Further Education in 1928 and the following year a three year day course was introduced leading to the Ordinary and Higher National Diploma in Building or the Intermediate Examination of the Royal Institute of British Architects or the Chartered Surveyors Institute.
In 1943 it became the Brixton School of Building, in March 1945 Mr D A G Reid CBE became Principal and after the Second World War the School rapidly expanded so that by 1949 the number of full time students exceeded 400, studying courses in architecture, surveying and structural engineering. In 1956 Brixton was designated a regional college, and the governors decided not to concentrate on work at higher levels, but to retain its craft work and lower level teaching. Under the government's policy for higher education, given in the White Paper 'A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges', published in 1966, the higher level studies at Brixton would have to be continued within a new institution based on the polytechnic model. Brixton School of Building became part of the Polytechnic of the South Bank in 1970, along with the Borough Polytechnic, City of Westminster College and the National College for Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration and Fan Engineering. The last Principal wrote, '1970 marked the end of the beginning; the School of Building had faithfully served many days and generations of students but to the work it was doing there is no end'.
Five of the six departments from Brixton became the new Polytechnic's Faculty of Construction, Technology and Design. The sixth department, along with some work from other departments formed the Vauxhall College of Further Education. The Faculty moved into the new purpose-designed Wandsworth Road building, on the Wandsworth Road, during the summer of 1973, a decade after the first draft schedule of accommodation was made. The building was officially opened on 17 April 1975 by Anthony Crosland MP. The Faculty became the largest and most comprehensive Built Environment faculty in Europe covering subjects such as Property Development, Waste Management and Architecture. In the summer of 2003 the Wandsworth Road building was sold by London South Bank University and students and staff transferred back to the University's main Southwark campus to form the Faculty of Engineering, Science and the Built Environment.
From Lost Hospitals of London https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/wanstead.html The Essex County Hospital opened in 1938 in a building originally erected in 1861 as the Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum. (Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, had laid the foundation stone.) In 1921 the orphans moved to Bearwood House in Wokingham and the Asylum building was bought by the Convent of the Good Shepherd as a refuge for women and girls. In 1937 Essex County Council bought the building and converted it into a hospital. The Hospital joined the NHS in 1948 as a general hospital with 202 beds. It had suffered considerable damage during the war and a proposal was made to develop a larger hospital on the 7 acre site. However, these plans came to naught. The war damage was repaired and by 1961 the Hospital had 195 beds. The maternity service was withdrawn in 1975 and the Hospital finally closed in 1986 with 188 beds. Services were transferred to Whipps Cross Hospital.
The hospital was part of the Forest Group School of Nursing, centred on Whipps Cross Hospital, training nurses for both the Register and the Roll.
From Lost Hospitals of London: https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/connaught.html In the late 19th century Walthamstow residents Mr and Mrs Tudor opened a 'Cottage for Sick Children' in a private house in Brandon Road. The Hospital moved to larger premises in Salisbury Road in 1880 and became known as the Leyton, Walthamstow and Wanstead Hospital. In 1894 the gift of Holmcroft in Orford Road enabled the hospital to expand so that it could also provide general services, and it was duly renamed the Children's and General Hospital for Leyton, Leytonstone, Walthamstow and Wanstead. It was enlarged in 1897 and again in 1903. By 1925 it had 50 beds. The Leyton and Leytonstone War Memorial Ward was added in 1927. In 1928 it was renamed the Co aught Hospital, as the Duchess of Co aught had been patron since 1866. The Duke of Kent had helped to raise £17,000 for its ru ing costs. By this time it had 100 beds. Comely Bank in Orford Road was acquired as a clinic in 1930. In 1934 the Hospital was enlarged again and by 1939 had 118 beds. Although mooted in 1945, the prospect of building a larger hospital never materialized and, in 1959, the old Walthamstow Town Hall, built in 1866, was incorporated into the Hospital and became its main entrance. This expanded it to 128 beds. In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS under the control of the Forest Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. In 1974, following a major reorganisation of the NHS, it came under the auspices of the Enfield District Health Authority, part of the North East Thames Regional Health Board. The Hospital finally closed in 1977 due to financial cutbacks in the NHS.
King George Hospital, Ilford, Essex, started in 1912 as the Ilford Emergency Hospital to serve the Ilford, Barking and Dagenham areas with 20 beds. During WW1 it became an approved military hospital with 56 beds.
Claybury Hospital opened in 1893 as the London County Lunatic Asylum, Ilford. At the end of the 20th Century with the Care in the Community Programme and decline in patient numbers from its peak of 4,000 patients, Claybury closed in 1997 and the historic buildings converted into luxury flats.
The Council of the Polytechnic agreed to establish the awarding of Honorary Fellowships in 1976. The Polytechnic then began creating honorary graduates in 1989 and once it became a University in 1992 it started awarding honorary degrees. Candidates are required to demonstrate a notable contribution to either the University, education and academia in general or the local community.
The Joint Committee on Honorary Fellowships was established in 1980 comprising four members: two nominated from the Polytechnic of the South Bank Council and two from the Academic Board. The terms of reference were to consider nominations and submit names for the award of Honorary Fellow. Honorary Degrees were award after the Polytechnic was granted university status, but recipients were decided by a committee of the Academic Board.
In March 2002 the Joint Committee's terms of reference amended to create a single committee responsible for both the Honorary Fellowships and Degrees. This was named the Honorary Awards Joint Committee.
The Board of Directors is more commonly known as the Board of Governors. For a time they were known as the Board of Directors when organising and holding the Annual General Meetings but those present still attended as members of the Board of Governors, rather than as Directors.
Ethelm House (Waterloo Centre) was situated on Cornwall Road and leased by South Bank University until the late 1990s. It was used as teaching space, primarily for short courses.
The Policy and Resources Committee was established in 1989 and contained the Finance and General Purposes Committee (LSBU/2/1/1). In 2001 the Finance Committee became a separate committee. In 2003 it was subsumed back into the Policy and Resources Committee.
The Policy and Resources Committee was a committee of the Board of Governors and advises the Board on the University's policies, its solvency and the use and safeguarding of its resources and assets. It also ensured that the University operated within the law and implemented matters delegated to it by the Board.
On 14 May 2015 the Board closed the committee as part of the governance effectiveness review.
The Formation Committee was formed jointly in April 1970 by the Governing Bodies of the Borough Polytechnic Institute, the Brixton School of Building, City of Westminster College and National College for Heating, Ventilating, Refrigeration and Fan Engineering to oversee the establishment of the Polytechnic of the South Bank, including the appointment of the Director, Secretary and other senior officers.
The Finance Committee was a sub-committee of the Board of Governors (LSBU/1/2). It merged with the House Committee (LSBU/1/8) in 1966 to become the Finance and General Purposes Committee. In 1989 it became part of the new Policy and Resources Committee (LSBU/1/10). In 2001 the Finance Committee became a separate entity again before being subsumed into the Policy and Resources Committee in 2003.
Edric Hall was officially opened in 1908 and was named after the Polytechnic's founding father Edric Bayley. The hall was used as a space for public lectures, examinations, and social events.
In September 1940 the Borough Polytechnic Institute was hit by German bombs, one of which went through the roof of Borough Road Building into Edric Hall. The Hall was refurbished after the Second World War and was officially opened on 1st December 1951.
Caxton House at 13-16 Borough Road was built in the 1920s for printing union NATSOPA by E J Williams Architects of Leicester and later used by SOGAT 81. The building was purchased by South Bank Polytechnic in 1988 to house students and staff from Rachel McMillan College. In 1992 it housed the Administration Department of the Polytechnic, including the Vice-Chancellor and later housed the University's staff from the Centre for Learning Support & Development, including the Careers Centre. It currently houses staff from the Confucius Institute, following a 2015 refurbishment carried out by Rivington Street Studio.
Dante Road Hall of Residence was built in three phases: Phase I - Dante Road was built in 1993 and consists of five purpose built accommodation blocks with 204 bedrooms. Construction on Phase II - Dante Place and Phase III - Holyoak Road was underway in March 1994 and the blocks were completed in time for the 1995-96 academic year.
The Rotary Street Building was built in 1836 as a Methodist chapel and in the 1890s became St. George's Primary School. The university leased the building in the 1960s for teaching and then used it to house the Students' Union until 1990. It was demolished in 2017.
The foundation stone plaque read:
"National and Parochial Schools of St George the Martyr Southwark, founded AD 1698, sometime situate the boys school in Union Street, afterwards called Lancaster Street, and the Girls School in premises adjoining the Church. Removed in 1839 to the Borough Road where the two schools were united. This foundation stone was laid by Harriette Caroline Gardiner 30th October 1901"
Blackwells Bookshop was situated at 119 London Road. The first floor contained office space for London South Bank University staff.