New £58m city college building gets green light
The new £58m Nottingham City Hub education and training facility has been given the formal go-ahead after funding was approved by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
The Nottingham City Hub will be the flagship campus of Nottingham College – formed by the merger of New College Nottingham and Central College in June 2017 – and it is set to be one of the largest further education institutions in the UK.
The City Hub’s £58m cost is due to be covered by an £18m loan from Nottingham City Council, College funds and £30m from D2N2, which formally agreed the funding late last week.
The Nottingham City Hub is set to be built on a site next to the tram bridge on Canal Street and Middle Hill. The building will be home to around 2,000 students; for business, admin and computing, travel and tourism, science provision, some creative provision, catering and hospitality, care and early years courses and more. It will also house a new café, new training restaurant, performance theatre and business hub; so that businesses will co-exist alongside the College. Work on the City Hub is due to start this summer and should be ready to welcome its first students in September 2020.
Matthew Wheatley, D2N2 LEP chief executive, said: “The Nottingham City Hub has the potential to change the face of further education in the D2N2 area. By working to ensure that the qualifications provided and the students who study at the college are fit for industry, the Nottingham City Hub will play a full and meaningful role in the growth of the D2N2 economy.”
John van de Laarschot, Nottingham College chief executive, added: “We are delighted to be able to agree funding for the new Nottingham College City Hub with D2N2 today. It is our aim to bring to Nottingham something truly special, something more than a traditional college campus and which is a unique space in which business and education co-exist to the benefit of both.
“With the College’s plans for its other centres of excellence across the City, Nottingham College will be one of the biggest and best-resourced education and training institutions in the country. We’re confident that these plans will benefit not just our students, who deserve a first class learning environment, but also local businesses and the wider community.”
