Wates to build Specialist College in East Manchester

22 November, 2011

Wates Construction has been awarded a £5.8m contract to build a new specialist further education college alongside a new and vital resource for land based studies. The project is a collaborative venture between The Manchester College and the charity, the Together Trust.

Bridge College, operated by the Together Trust, is to be built on the grounds of the former Rolls Royce factory on Pottery Lane in Openshaw. The 2,650 sq m. site, shared by the colleges, will be linked to The Manchester College’s Openshaw Campus on Ashton Old Road via a new bridge across Clayton Road South.

The project will see the transformation of what was formerly a factory engaged in heavy industry into a state of the art educational space with a working horticultural site. The site will be used for teaching and will include green and pleasant areas, sensory gardens and planting schemes, to improve bio-diversity and enable delivery of the colleges’ sustainability strategies.

Bridge Centre will provide specialist teaching and learning for disabled young people and adults, and a centre of excellence providing specialist educational and therapy support to the wider community of students with learning difficulties, disabilities and complex needs.

Work on the project commenced in October 2011. Once complete, Bridge College will include tailored teaching spaces, state of the art ICT, training kitchen, independence flat, a learning hub, medical centre and highly specialist therapy centres including a fully accessible hydrotherapy pool.

John Shannon, Business Unit Director at Wates Construction in the North West, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract by The Together Trust and The Manchester College to deliver such a unique project, and one which will significantly serve the educational needs of the college students and the wider community.

“We have an excellent team in place and we are fully committed to using this project as a catalyst to offering training and employment opportunities in and around East Manchester.”

David Marriott, Chief Executive of the Together Trust, added: “Bridge College’s move from Offerton to Openshaw will see the creation of a unique centre of expertise that sets a new standard for specialist further education facilities. As such, we wanted to work with a partner that not only wholly understands our aims and objectives for the building and our students, but also supports us in delivering added value benefits to the project. We selected Wates for the initiative as it met these criteria and more, and we are looking forward to working with them on this unique specialist education facility.”

Peter Tavernor, principal of The Manchester College, said: “This new facility marks the start of a groundbreaking partnership between the two colleges. Through co-location and collaborative working the two colleges will establish a truly inclusive centre of expertise that will serve as a developmental model for post-16 and post-19 education for learners with complex and high support needs.” 

It is expected that the building will receive a BREEAM rating of Very Good, through the internal and external environment monitoring of a fully automatic Building Energy Management System (BEMS) and the installation of under floor heating.

Urban regeneration company, New East Manchester, delivered the acquisition and remediation of the former Rolls Royce site through a £3.6m grant from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

The college is due for completion by summer 2012.

Categories: colleges, north west

Tags: College, Manchester College, North West