College announces multi-million pound makeover

New College Durham is to embark on one of its most exciting and biggest campus re-developments since the college was re-built in 2005.

Following months of consultation and planning, the college is investing £5million in the upgrade, which will create outstanding new facilities, benefiting students, staff, visitors and the community.

The re-development will include a dedicated higher education centre, an advanced manufacturing centre, a creative and digital suite, a library revamp, and an enhanced gas and plumbing workshop.

A new purpose built higher education centre, for those studying on higher education courses and professional qualification programmes, will include new classrooms, a dedicated IT

room, a large breakout and social space for informal working and additional open-access computing facilities and areas for students to connect their own devises.

The investment in an Advanced Manufacturing Centre will help meet the needs of the economy, through industry facilities, including dual screen workstations, teaching spaces and a dedicated pneumatics and hydraulics area with new test rigs and demonstration units.

The centre will be viewable from various areas within the college, via a glazed wall, bringing the space to life for the whole college.

A visually striking Creative and Digital Suite will create a bustling creative hub within the college, providing design and media students with impressive industry standard facilities.

They will include a TV and radio studio with recording gallery, editing suites, Apple Mac suites with top-of-the-range design technology, an open plan design studio and a professional meeting area for employer presentations and briefs.

John Widdowson, Principal and Chief Executive at New College Durham, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce our new £5million investment plan that will set a new

standard for vocational education in the region.

"Our ambitious re-development offers exceptional facilities, which will exceed students' expectations, and will help raise education and skills levels in the local economy.”.

The work is expected to be completed by the summer and the college will remain fully open and functioning throughout the re-developments.