New £4m Nottingham College construction skills centre approved to meet ‘growing demand’

Nottingham College has been given the green light to build a new centre to teach construction skills to around 180 students every year amid growing demand.

The new two-storey facility had been proposed on the site of the existing Basford campus in Nuthall Road and Nottingham City Council has now approved the plans.

It comes after the Government awarded Nottingham College £4m from a post-16 education fund to develop the new purpose-built construction skills centre.

The college will be spending another £1.2m to develop the centre, creating space for more young people aged 16 to 18 to get construction training in the city.

Carl Ara, the Basford campus head of centre, said: “Basford has a long track record for excellence in construction training and skills development and this new centre will ensure that we as a college are equipped to meet the growing demand for these skills within our local and regional economy.

“Young people enrolling with us will not only receive first-class training across all the traditional construction trades, they will also be able to access specialist green skills training as well as higher level technical training to ensure that they can access the growing range of jobs and careers in this important sector.

“This significant investment which is supporting our continued growth in this area will be music to the ears of our employers who rely on us to develop and train their current and future workforce.”

The new site will accommodate 170 to 180 students aged 16 to 18 over an academic year.

Only 60 students will be present on site at any one time, alongside two extra staff members.

Nottingham College added: “It means that by September 2024, a new construction skills centre will be open at the college’s Basford campus, already home to the region’s largest construction training facility.

“These new additional places, on offer within the new skills centre, will mean that up to around 1,000 young people, between the ages of 16 and 18 will be able to access construction training and qualifications every year, on top of the many adults and apprentices the college trains.”

A separate £6m centre is also being built on the Basford campus to provide specialist provision for students with learning disabilities or difficulties.

Nottingham College says more than £10m overall is being invested in the Basford campus in between now and April 2024.