Newcastle College invests £8.6 in new training centre

Sep 24 2007 The Journal

CONSTRUCTION work is now complete on Newcastle College’s latest addition to its £160m redevelopment programme – a new business centre, right in the heart of Newcastle City Centre.

The college recently opened Sandyford Building, an £8.6m state-of-the-art training facility and commercial centre.

Its focus is to provide real working environments for apprenticeships, as well as offering comprehensive and bespoke training programmes to the business community.

Newcastle College already has an outstanding reputation for its work with employers, having been awarded an Association of College’s Beacon Award for College Engagement with Employers, sponsored by the Learning Training and Skills Council (LSC).

The Beacon Award Assessors were impressed by the work of Newcastle College which ensures it is at the forefront to meet the requirements of employers, helping them to access bespoke training, delivered where, when and how best suits the needs of companies and staff.

The assessors saw exemplary practice in responding to the needs of employers.

The top floor of the Sandyford Building boasts hi-tech conference and banqueting facilities, with rooms seating eight to 150 people. It is an ideal place for North-East businesses to access high-quality training, host meetings, seminars, conferences, product launches or promotional events.

The ground floor also offers a number of commercial businesses including a florists, gift shop, hair salon and academy, art gallery and brasserie.

“A great deal of effort has gone into creating world-class facilities which will give employers and employees a highly motivational learning and training environment, exceed the expectations of business users and present high-quality retail services to the workers, residents and visitors of Newcastle,” said Gary Whitehead, Business Development Director.

The centre is also the new home for the college’s award-winning Trade Union Education Centre, which engages with more than 35,000 trade union representatives and members across the region. They will benefit from a wide range of flexible courses from Health and Safety through to Leadership Skills, all of which will offer IT and internet training.

Jackie Fisher, Principal and Chief Executive at Newcastle College, said: “It is our ambition to make the new centre the driver for business innovation and growth. The creation of Sandyford marks a significant investment for the college, and is yet another fantastic addition to our estates portfolio.

“Before embarking on the project, we consulted many industry experts and are confident we have created a dynamic environment which blends the standards required by business with vocational courses that will help us to further build our capacity to nurture and develop the future workforce of the region.”