Doncaster wins bid to become home of HS2 College site

THE new National College for High Speed Rail is to be split between Doncaster and Birmingham.

The college, due to open in 2017, will be headquartered at Birmingham’s Science Park and will have a site at Doncaster’s Lakeside Campus. The new college ‘hub’ and a number of ‘spokes’ based across the country will provide training to the next generation of engineers working on the HS2 project and beyond.

In Doncaster, the successful Centre for Rail Engineering and Technical Expertise (CREATE) bid was coordinated by Doncaster Council and supported by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

The college will be built on a 5.1 acre site at Doncaster’s Lakeside. It will be within walking distance of household names in the rail industry like DB Schenker, Volker Rail and Hitachi.

The college will train thousands of new engineers, who are needed to deliver billions of pounds worth of rail contracts over the coming decades, including the new HS2 high speed rail line. Work will now begin on building the college sites and developing the courses.
 
Ros Jones, mayor of Doncaster, said: “I am delighted that our hard work to bring the new National High Speed Rail College to Doncaster has been a success and I would like to thank everyone who has been part of our bid, or supported it. Doncaster has always led the way in terms of cutting-edge rail engineering and this decision confirms our position as the home of rail. It’s a great day for Doncaster.

“Bringing a national engineering college to Doncaster will be a game changer for the town and the Sheffield City Region, complementing the plans we have implemented to grow our thriving rail and engineering sector. It will offer local people, including our school leavers, the chance to gain high level engineering skills leading to well-paid jobs that are in high demand.”

Doncaster’s rail and engineering renaissance has stepped up a gear this year with more than 10,000 people employed in the sector and firms having order books in excess of £1.7bn over the next five years. There is also strong interest from companies looking to locate to one of Britain’s most important railway centres.
 
Four areas had bid for the right to host the college – Birmingham, Doncaster, Manchester and Derby.

James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “The new HS2 College is good news for jobs, skills and economic growth in Doncaster and the Sheffield City Region.
 
“The Sheffield City Region HS2 College bid brought together local leaders from across the private and public sectors to make the strongest case possible for the college to be located in Doncaster. Together with strong support from all the other LEPs in Yorkshire and the North East, this played a major part in persuading Government to locate the college in the North.
 
“Sheffield City Region has all the elements needed to make the flagship HS2 College a great success, including a reputation and heritage in rail engineering, its location on the East Coast Mainline, an exceptional engineering business base and world-class further and higher education providers.”

Prime minister David Cameron said:“As a crucial part of our long-term economic plan, this government is backing business with better infrastructure so that more jobs and opportunities are created for hardworking people.

“The benefits of high-speed rail will not just be seen by those commuting between London and the North, but through the thousands of local jobs and apprenticeships created because of HS2.

“The opening of this National College will also ensure that we have a pool of locally-trained workers with the right skills to draw upon for future projects.”

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