Doncaster shortlisted to become home of HS2 college
DONCASTER has been shortlisted to become the home of the National College for High Speed Rail.
The College could generate about £150m for the Doncaster and Sheffield City Region economy and is up against Birmingham, Derby and Manchester.
Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones, said: “I am delighted we have made it to the final stage of the process and we will be pulling out all the stops to bring this college to Doncaster for the benefit of businesses and people in the town, the Sheffield City Region, Yorkshire and the north-east of England. This is a major achievement and testament to the partnership approach we have taken to get us into the top four.
“We are a rail town with a rich history of leading the way in rail and engineering. Cutting edge locomotives like Flying Scotsman and Mallard were designed, built and maintained right here in Doncaster and this engineering prowess continues today with over 10,000 people employed in the sector. Having the college in Doncaster will have a transformational impact on growing the sector. It will help our businesses expand, offer people world class training, deliver quality jobs and drive economic growth in Doncaster and across the Sheffield City Region.”
The private sector led Centre for Rail And Technical Excellence (CREATE), coordinated by Doncaster Council and supported by Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, business leaders and partners including local authorities across the region submitted the bid last month.
The research and teaching centre would be built on a 5.1 acre site at Doncaster’s Lakeside. The site already has outline planning permission and is walking distance to household names in the rail and engineering industry including DB Schenker, Volker Rail and Unipart.
Doncaster-based Wabtec, a railway vehicle engineering company, said it the establishment of the College in Doncaster would be an acknowledgement of the town’s continuing role as one of the UK’s leading centres of railway engineering.
Simon Carr, LEP board member and managing director at Henry Boot Construction, said: “This is excellent news for Doncaster and will make the Sheffield City Region a worldwide hub for rail engineering training. As one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Europe, the scale of demand for engineering skills from HS2 will be unprecedented. With its reputation as a rail town, location on the East Coast Mainline and existing rail business base, Doncaster is clearly in a very strong position to win this competition. The new college will have clear benefits for businesses across the Sheffield City Region who will be looking to win contracts and recruit skilled staff as the £42.6bn project gets underway.”
Professor Philip Jones, LEP board member and vice chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, added: “The new college will grow the Sheffield City Region’s strength in engineering skills through its universities and colleges, and will build on specialised courses such as the Network Rail Foundation Degree at Sheffield Hallam University. As the HS2 project progresses, demand for highly qualified engineers will become greater and greater and we look forward to working alongside the new college to train the highly skilled engineers this huge project will need.”
A final decision will be made by an advisory group next month following presentations by the bidders. The group will consist of representatives from Crossrail, HS2 Limited, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Department for Transport.
