£8.4m Nexus rail training scheme in South Shields gets the go-ahead

Nexus - the public body which owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro - has got the green light to build an £8.4m railway skills centre in South Shields.

The Metro Maintenance and Renewals Skills Centre will be a bespoke training facility for Nexus to deliver a wide range of infrastructure and operations training to staff.

Planning permission for the development, submitted by Galliford Try, was confirmed by South Tyneside Council on Monday March 19.

The centre will be used as the training base for more than 1,000 people who work on Metro.

Nexus’ managing director, Tobyn Hughes, said: “Our new £8.4m rail skills centre will deliver a step change in the quality of the training that we can provide to our staff, contractors and industry partners.

“This will be of huge benefit to our workforce and for the long term future of the Tyne and Wear Metro system.

“The site in South Shields offers an excellent location on the existing Metro network. The town centre is already enjoying major regeneration through South Tyneside Council’s 365 Masterplan and we are partners in building a new transport interchange.”

The project is being funded through a £7m grant from the government’s Local Growth Fund Deal through the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and North East Combined Authority, as well as a £1.4m contribution by Nexus.

The new three-storey training centre itself will house a new computerised Metro driver training simulator.

Director of Stephen George and Partners, Alistair Branch, commented: “This is a key milestone, enabling the team to now focus on the construction stage of the Metro Skills and Renewals Centre.

“SGP is pleased that with this decision and their continued support, Nexus and Galliford Try will realise the delivery of a facility which will maintain the future of the Metro fleet and train the drivers and engineers of tomorrow.”

The Skills Centre will be built within the existing Metro sidings between Mile End Road and Salem Street in South Shields, on the site of the town’s original railway station, which was closed when the Metro line was built in the early 1980s.

Work on the new building is set to start next May and is scheduled for completion in Spring 2019.

The new training centre is to be built by the construction firm GallifordTry.

Stephen George + Partners, one of the UK’s biggest architectural practices, have secured the contract to design the new training centre.