Work has started on Kent County Council’s first purpose-built lifelong learning and community campus at The Bridge.

KCC has gone out of its way to ensure all the necessary community facilities are included - and the campus will have a number of eco-friendly features.

At the heart will be a primary school for up to 420 children. It has a striking ship’s funnel design for the main reception in keeping with the area’s association with the Thames.

Provision will be made for a 26-place nursery on site, there will be a first-floor youth centre specialising in music and the arts, adult education facilities and a library access point.

The campus will have a community meeting room, a school kitchen which will also serve visitors, a health consulting room, a police point, and children’s and adult social services.

Special facilities have been included for people with disabilities including hoists and a sensory room.

The school’s environmental features will include a central atrium designed in the style of a mini-Eden Project, rainwater harvesting and energy conservation measures.

Frequent Fastrack buses take only six minutes to reach the site from Dartford. Once there, the emphasis at The Bridge is on keeping car use to a minimum and making it easy to walk around the site.

Construction will take about a year and it is expected that the school’s first pupils will start in September 2009.