Stoke College to get £10m for new building and improvements
STOKE-on-Trent College is one of the successful further education institutions to gain a significant sum of Government funds to build modern facilities.
21 colleges throughout the country will invest £168m in building modern facilities thanks to the Government investment. Many of these new projects are for skills training in sectors vital for growing British industry including engineering, construction and automotive.
Stoke-on-Trent College will receive £10m, an 85% contribution towards a £11.74m investment in its Cauldon Campus in the centre of Stoke-on-Trent.
A new 3,500 sq m hub building will be constructed, providing state of the art flexible teaching space specifically for business and management information, digital and web-based technologies together with new student services facilities.
In addition a further 3,000 sq m of buildings will be re-furbished and over 5,000 sq m of poor quality building space demolished.
The college says the project will enable it to deliver more apprenticeships from a modern and exciting campus and to respond to the emerging skills needs arising from the Stoke and Staffordshire city deal proposals.
The Government said it is targeting those in the greatest need of help and those that can best support growth by investing £77.7m through the Skills Funding Agency. This will be matched with more than a £91.1m investment from colleges.
Secretary of state for business, innovation and skills Vince Cable said: “Vocational education and skills are an important part of rebalancing our economy. They not only help with widening participation, but also help to provide a workforce best equipped for the modern world.
“There is a long-standing backlog in college building and refitting. We are investing to address this. These colleges will be able to provide good teaching facilities in all parts of the country, helping us to build the skills base across the country.”
This funding is the second round of the College Capital Investment Fund (CCIF), through which £550m is being made available between 2013 and 2015.
