Bright future for education at Bradford College
AN INVESTMENT of more than £100m – including the construction of a £50m new build – is being made at Bradford College.
The college is presently in the middle of a £50m build as part of its five year renewal plan.
Construction work is being carried out by BAM Construction. The new state-of-the-art 250,000 sq ft facility is due to open its doors to students by September next year.
This will be followed by a £2.8m refurbishment and extension of the college’s Lister Building which will accommodate a library, café and exhibition area.
The remaining college buildings will be sold or put to other use while Lister Building, the Grove Library, Bolton Royd and Trinity Green campus will be retained.
Michele Sutton, Bradford College’s principal and chief executive, said that coupled with investment in the two college academies, Appleton and Samuel Lister, the Studio School and a global film school set up in partnership with a leading Asian film training company, Whistling Woods International, it meant exciting times for the college.
Ms Sutton said: “We are investing in the skills of people in Bradford and leading the way with different learning environments. These developments are extending the Learning and Cultural Quarter in the city by helping to regenerate the city centre – with the National Media Museum and Central Library at one end and the University and Studio School at another.
“We have to continually develop our offering to keep it attractive – standing still is not an option. Our students arrive with experiences of new schools and people working in new offices experience new technology and are digital natives. Doing nothing would have been detrimental to both us and our students.”
The new development follows the opening of a £300,000 internationally recognised boxing centre last February at the college’s Trinity Green campus, as part of Bradford Gold, a partnership between Bradford Council, the college, Bradford University, Bradford Bulls, Bradford City and the Community Support network.
The centre played a key role in providing pre-games training camp facilities for a number of Olympic teams.
