Stoke on Trent College CONNECTS to community with construction milestone

A traditional ground-breaking ceremony took place today (11 July 2024) to mark the first official day of construction on a brand-new building and learning space at the Cauldon campus of Stoke on Trent College.

Construction will now commence over the summer, after the College secured c£14.4m in funding from the Government’s Further Education Capital Transformation and T Level Capital schemes, for this programme.

Artist impression of the new building

This is part of a transformational journey for the College with ambitious plans to create new, industry standard facilities and inspiring teaching and learning spaces. The facilities will support new specialist curriculum areas to match skills gaps identified in the Local Skills Improvement Plan.

As well as developing a future-proofed, modern campus, the new building will provide an accessible, welcoming and engaging environment to better connect the College with the wider community, further supporting the ambition to be at the heart of the city.

Also as part of the capital programme, a new dedicated health ward and science laboratory, providing industry-standard facilities and authentic work experience environments will be added to the campus offer.

The programme will also include a state-of-the-art broadcast media suite, including full green screen technology to support the delivery of the brand-new Broadcast Media T Level from September. This will further develop the College’s extensive Digital and Creative offer, improving access and visibility of the digital sector and working closely with leading digital and creative partners across the city. A key growth area for the College which continues to thrive in support of Stoke-on-Trent’s creative and digital industries.

Lisa Capper MBE, CEO & Principal at Stoke on Trent College said:

“This is an exciting day, as work begins on our new building, the ‘Connect Building’ at our Cauldon campus. As a forward-thinking professional and technical college, we have identified areas where we can better utilise our campus space and replace less sustainable buildings with fresh, future-proofed and modern learning spaces, and which provide specialist sector facilities to support learners and employers.

“The new learning spaces reaffirm our commitment, identified in our Skills Ready, Future Ready strategic plan to support growth in key sectors including Creative and Digital and Health and Social Care allowing us to deliver more high-level employability and industry-ready skills whilst supporting even more young people the opportunity to progress to exciting careers.

Jeremy Cartwright Chair of the Corporation said:

“This exciting development will further strengthen the College’s industry links and relationships, whilst supporting local place-making ambitions, and meet environmental sustainability objectives set by the Government.”

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