Middlesbrough College - College will be at the heart of town

Sep 14 2006 North East Vision

Middlehaven will be the site of Middlesbrough College from September 2008. After almost 50 years on its present sites, the college is moving to a new home in a £68m building near the centre of Middlesbrough.

The area does not look much now, but all that is about to change as it is to be transformed over the next few years to provide exciting, attractive facilities where people can live, work and play.

These benefits will enable the college to be at the heart of Middlesbrough, educating 14- to 19-year-olds and extending and widening participation for the whole community.

The new college will include:

• A four-storey learning resource centre in the heart of the building.

• Six training kitchens including a silver service restaurant and bistro for both training and operational purposes. These will ensure the college can maintain and develop Centre of Vocational Excellence (Cove) standards while also catering for special needs students.

• Nail, hair, beauty and spa suites located along a "public" street promoting training for learners in a realistic commercial environment.

• Workshop spaces for trades, including motor vehicle workshops, woodwork, wet trades, mechanical, electrical, welding, plumbing, dry lining and engineering science.

• Sports facilities including a six-court sports hall, fitness centre and a regional gymnastics centre.

• A higher education-further education performance wing, including a public performance venue, dance and drama studios, music and recording studios, a lecture theatre and general training venues.

• Two prominent fifth-floor training suites and dockside views to promote employer engagement and commercial partnerships.

• General teaching rooms, science labs, ICT suites, art, design and photography studios and a nursery.

The college is currently based on four sites: Kirby, Longlands, Marton and Acklam. After a successful merger in 2002, the college undertook a major review of its accommodation.

It was recognised that the four sites presented problems for the long-term future of the college:

The buildings are old and require considerable expenditure on maintenance.

Many are unsuitable for education and training in the 21st Century.

Travel between sites is time-consuming and expensive for students and staff.

The development of integrated curriculum packages is constrained by the remote nature of sites - students wishing to do A-levels, sports and technology might have to travel between three sites.

There are constraints to expansion at the present sites. These difficulties were recognised by the Learning and Skills Council and commented on in an Ofsted inspection report.

The review resulted in an accommodation strategy which was approved by the governing body in 2003.

The key aim was for the college to dispose of its current sites and establish a new base suitable for the learning needs of the area for years to come.

After consideration of various options, the college decided the best opportunity to achieve this aim would be as part of the regeneration of the Middlehaven area of Middlesbrough.

The LSC granted outline approval to the college's accommodation strategy in 2004 and since then much work has been done to develop and refine the design for the college, with the institution working in close partnership with the LSC Tees Valley, Tees Valley Regeneration, One NorthEast, Middlesbrough Council, the University of Teesside and other interested parties.

• All part-time courses are now being enrolled. For more information and advice please contact course information on (01642) 296600.