Midlands colleges join forces to back Birmingham’s HS2 training centre bid

AN unprecedented coming together of regionally-based colleges is at the heart of a bid to secure a training facility for the HS2 high-speed rail project for Birmingham.

The consortium of colleges from Birmingham, Staffordshire and Worcestershire will bid to train skilled workers for the HS2 rail line at a new facility in the Second City.

Ministers announced in January plans for a dedicated further education college for the high-speed railway.

The nine colleges in the consortium want it to be sited alongside a planned HS2 maintenance depot on the former LGV plant in Washwood Heath, Birmingham.

It would be England’s first new further education college for 20 years and would provide a jobs boost in one of Birmingham’s unemployment blackspots.

The colleges making up the consortium include four from Birmingham – Bournville, Birmingham Metropolitan, University and South and City – as well as Solihull, South Staffordshire, Burton and South Derbyshire, North East Worcestershire and Kidderminster.

Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Great Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said it made sense to put the college next to a large maintenance depot.

“You’re going to have a train set to play with – you go to college to learn the skills and you can then apply them with a real-life high-speed system on your doorstep,” he said.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the college would have “cutting-edge technology and use state-of-the-art equipment” to provide training courses for the specific needs of the rail project, which is expected to generate more than 2,000 apprenticeships.

Local business leaders in Birmingham believe the city’s location at the heart of the proposed high speed rail network would appear to make it the ideal destination for the HS2 college.

Speaking in January, Andrew Cleaves, Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP board director with responsibility for transport, said the partnership was already well advanced in its strategy to maximise the potential of HS2 for businesses and the wider population of the area.

“Greater Birmingham has a very well-regarded technical skills base and the HS2 College would provide an excellent opportunity, provided we can present a compelling case to bring it here,” he said.

“Now, our job is to present to Government a business case to bring the HS2 College to Greater Birmingham.”