QUEEN Elizabeth Sixth Form College enlisted the help of an old boy who is a senior civil servant to unveil a £5m transformation, writes Lauren Pyrah.

Sir Alan Wilson, director-general of higher education, performed the official opening ceremony in front of 300 invited guests on Wednesday.

He attended the college's forerunner - Darlington Grammar School for Boys - in the Fifties, and unveiled a commemorative plaque.

The building work started in summer last year and brings all of the college's annexes on to the main site in Vane Terrace.

A central feature is a glazed atrium, four-storeys high, which provides a student study area and the very latest information learning technology resources.

A new sports hall has replaced the Thirties' gymnasium, and there are purpose-built business, leisure and tourism, drama and theatre suites as well as new science laboratories and a studio for art and design.

As part of the project, rooms in the Abbey wing have been refurbished.

The college raised 70pc of the funding through selling assets, reserve funds and borrowing, with the rest provided through Government grant.

The capacity of the college will increase slightly, to provide education for 1,560 full-time 16- to 19-year-old students.

David Heaton, college principal, said: "It is an indication of the ambition of the college and the aspirations of the governing body.

"I am immensely grateful to the governors for their courage and foresight and also their business acumen for taking the college down this road."

Sir Alan said: "It has gone onwards and upwards. It was very good in my day, it is even better now."