Member Article

New College Durham set for £5m redevelopment

New College Durham in investing £5m on a major redevelopment of its campus, which will reflect the needs of the local business community.

Following months of consultation and planning, the new college will not only benefit students, staff, visitors but also the needs of local businesses and the priorities of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership.

The college’s Library and Learning Resource Centre will also be redeveloped and modernised, with increased IT resources; and the Gas and Plumbing Workshop will be expanded with a bespoke designed gas testing centre and a large open plan workshop space.

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 local economy, through industry facilities, including CAD dual screen workstations; CAD teaching spaces; CNC machines; and a dedicated pneumatics and hydraulics area with new test rigs and demonstration units.

A 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.

It is the biggest investment the college has made in its buildings since the campus was re-built in 2005.

John Widdowson, Principal and Chief Executive at New College Durham, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce our new £5m investment plan that will set a new standard for vocational education in the region.

“Our ambitious re-development offers exceptional facilities, which will exceed student’s 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.

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