Green Light For College’s Capital Projects - 14/07/2009 |
 Manchester MPs Paul Goggins, Tony Lloyd and Graham Stringer this week met to congratulate Principal of The Manchester College, Peter Tavernor, on the news that the Learning & Skills Council (LSC) has approved the college’s planned accommodation developments.
Peter Tavernor was thrilled by the announcement and expressed his gratitude to all three MPs: “This is fantastic news for the people of Manchester. The new developments will help us to further drive up participation and achievement levels in education and training.
“I would like to thank these three key Members of Parliament for being so active on behalf of The Manchester College. They have had many meetings with Ministers over recent months to impress on them the importance of the planned developments, and their support and commitment has finally paid off.”
Tony Lloyd, MP for Manchester Central and Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party said: “It gives me great pleasure to see the plans of the Labour government come to fruition in such a key area. These developments will allow Manchester to have the best possible training structure that will serve us for many years to come.
“Despite all the difficulties in the LSC’s administration of the process, the capital programme is a real Labour government success, representing the largest investment in further education in this country’s history.”
The new developments, totalling more than £46 million of building work, will be based in three regeneration areas of the city – Wythenshawe, Harpurhey and inner area South Manchester.
The brand new Brownley Road Campus in Wythenshawe is a £28million building project that will help improve training and employment opportunities for people in Benchill and the wider Wythenshawe area. With state-of-the-art vocational facilities, it will offer training for local people in construction and motor vehicle skills, and there will also be a much-needed sixth form centre. Sustainability and environmental measures will be key the design of the new campus, and plans are in place for a Sustainable Construction Visitor Centre.
Paul Goggins MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East said: “I am delighted that the LSC has announced that The Manchester College’s plans for a new campus in Benchill have been included in the next round of the further education capital programme. This funding will help not only to build a new campus, but also to transform the lives of many people living in the local area. I am pleased that the LSC has listened to our arguments.”
The £9.2 million development in Harpurhey involves part new-build and part major renovation of a Grade 2 listed building, adjacent to the college’s current award-winning sixth form centre, which also hosts North City Library. This second phase will include a new hall for performing arts, exhibition space and community use, together with new classroom provision and a fitness centre.
Manchester Blackley MP Graham Stringer was delighted at the decision but criticised the LSC for its management of the process: “The Learning and Skills Council’s handling of its capital budget has been a fiasco. It made it very difficult for The Manchester College to get capital investment for these three sites. I am very pleased that investment will take place at the sixth form college in Harpurhey and will bring the building that used to contain Harpurhey Baths back into public use, as part of the college.”
The final project is a £9.5million refurbishment of the college’s Fielden Campus on Barlow Moor Road in south Manchester. Works will include demolition of a number of outbuildings and full refurbishment of the retained buildings, including the main reception, refectory and gymnasium.
Peter Tavernor said: “With a long history of innovation and high standards of performance, the Fielden Campus is in a prime location to effectively offer excellent training opportunities to Manchester’s residents, including high level skills in business, ICT, facilities management and specialist catering facilities.”
He added: “The college is absolutely committed to sustainability and the development of environmentally-friendly buildings and plans for all three projects include provision of photo-voltaic cells and other environmentally sustainable building support systems.”
Chair of Governors of The Manchester College and Councillor for Brooklands ward, Sue Murphy, said: “These accommodation developments offer young people and adult learners in Manchester the kind of learning environments, facilities and equipment that they really deserve, and represent a huge commitment by The Manchester College to post-16 education.”
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