The village includes Ashburton Library, Oasis Academy Shirley Park, Croydon Music Service and a CALAT training centre.

The £20 million secondary school, library and community facilities is the borough's first education Private Finance Initiative (PFI) development.

Former energy minister Malcolm Wicks praised the new development in Croydon, for its ‘innovative design’ and ‘energy-efficient features’.

In March, the former Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly MP visited the learning village, and marked the end of the construction period with a foundation stone taken from the original school, which opened in 1950.

It is a flagship development which benefits both the pupils and the community¨Work on Ashburton Learning Village, Shirley Road, Croydon, started in June 2004 but plans to redevelop the school had been in the pipeline since 2001, when Croydon Council secured government backing from the then Department for Education and Employment through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Additional PFI credits were granted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Trade and Industry, enabling Ashburton Library to move from its current home in Ashburton Park and allowing the more ambitious plans to create a learning village for the whole community to be developed.