University submits plans for £40m building

Staffordshire University has lodged plans for a £40m Catalyst building which if approved will act as a study base for 6,500 new apprenticeships by 2030.

The Catalyst Building, which is part-funded by the Office for Students, will take the place of the Brindley Building on the University’s Stoke-on-Trent campus and will become a flagship for apprentices and digital skills when it opens in 2020.

Artists impressions, submitted with the planning application to Stoke-on-Trent City Council, reveal a modern brick building with a glass ground floor.

The building will house the apprenticeships and digital skills hub, a new library, social learning spaces and a restaurant and café.

Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios are working with university and consultancy MACE to deliver the project.

Professor Martin Jones, deputy vice-chancellor of Staffordshire University said the building would have a positive impact on students and the wider community.

“The new Catalyst Building will enhance the learning and social experience of all of our students, enabling them to achieve their full potential and to play an active part in the life of the University and wider community.

“The cutting-edge facilities will support our students to study flexible degrees that meet their needs and those of employers.  The University plans to be the catalyst in transforming lives and prospects and helping students secure highly-skilled jobs.

“Many of our students come from the local area and our investment in them, through the Catalyst Building and the work of the University, is supporting the region to grow and take on the challenges of the 21st century.”

Demolition work on the Brindley building will begin in January with construction on the Catalyst Building expected to begin in Spring, 2019.