World Class Skills
The Learning and Skills Council has given the green light for Hartlepool College of Further Education to begin their £51.6 million new development. The College is one of only 12 colleges nationwide from an original list of over 180 that has been chosen to proceed with their development. The impact on the town, its economy and the environment is likely to be immense. Hartlepool College emerged from the LSC negotiations with the quality of the proposed building intact and benefits secured for future learners and the local community. This will allow construction to proceed rapidly with the target of 2011 still achievable.
Principal and Chief Executive David Waddington said: “Over the last four years the staff of the College and key partners, have worked extremely hard to ensure that Hartlepool has the ‘World Class’ education and training facilities needed to secure economic prosperity into the 21st century. The LSC announcement is fantastic news for the College, for the Town, employers and the community as whole and I would like to thank in particular Iain Wright and representatives of Hartlepool Borough Council, Teesside University, ONE North East and the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit, who have all given us tremendous support. We can now look forward to a development that I believe will have an enormous positive impact upon the town centre and the long term development of Hartlepool.”
"The Learning and Skills Council’s aim was to deliver best value for money for the taxpayer and to fund the maximum possible number of projects. LSC Chief Executive Geoff Russell said, “This has been a tough and challenging process, but the Building Colleges for the Future programme is moving forward and this announcement is proof of that.”
Professor Aidan Mullan, Chair of Governors at Hartlepool College of Further Education went on to comment that, “The College is delighted to have been given the go ahead for the new build. The new state of the art development will be ready for students beginning their study in 2011 and will be an iconic building for the community of Hartlepool and surrounding areas. A huge thank you must be extended to the many stakeholders who have supported the College and we look forward to the future and continued success.”
Nationally renowned architects Bond Bryan have designed the state of the art campus after consulting with hundreds of internal and external stakeholders. The new campus will include high quality Conferencing Facilities, Fitness Suite, Bistro and Hair and Beauty Salons all of which will be accessible to the general public. The workshops and technical areas will incorporate industry standard cutting edge technology and equipment in Building Services, Aerospace and Construction, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and Motor Vehicle . The new building will be five storeys high and have floor space of approximately 19000m2 with around 270 car parking spaces for staff and students. The building will include various renewable technologies in its design and will have a Very Good BREEAM rating when complete.
To enable the building to be built in one phase the existing Engineering Workshop Block and Brunswick Street Annexe will be demolished 2009/2010. To accommodate this the College has subsequently re-located its Construction and Engineering courses to a specially designed facility at Sovereign Park around 1 mile from the main campus. This facility has been operational from September 2008 and accommodates around 250 students. Miller Construction has been appointed as the main contractor and building work which is due to start in October 2009 with the new college being occupied and operational for the academic year 2011.