New College Durham to invest £6m in campus development to boost 'specific local and regional economic needs'

New College Durham has unveiled plans to invest £6m into its campus with a new build project to meet the needs of the local and regional economy.

The new development will focus on ensuring the college has world-class facilities for teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.

The development has been designed to meet the needs of the local community which has recently experienced an increase in financial sector jobs..

The new project will also help with the replacement of skilled workers who are approaching retirement age. Durham is set to experience a 10% increase in school leavers between 2019 and 2023.

As well as serving local needs, the new facilities would help the College achieve wider regional priorities, which are set by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP).

Amongst the top four priorities are advanced manufacturing, sub-sea and off-shore, renewable technologies, health and life sciences and digital industries.

John Widdowson, principal and chief executive of New College Durham, said: “The new development has been designed to respond to our very specific local and regional economic needs.

“As a college we already have a growing presence in STEM and related subjects including applied science, engineering, construction and the build environment, manufacturing and digital industries.”

Widdowson continued: “As a college, we’re exceptionally well placed to deliver these subjects to a higher level. We have a growing higher education offer with a range of programmes and we have students who start from level 1, 2 or 3 and progress right the way through with us to degree level.

“We work closely with employers when developing our curriculum to ensure that our students have the skills and expertise needed to go into the workplace and succeed. We also have flexible study options and offer higher and degree apprenticeships so students can learn the skills on the job, whilst still gaining the qualifications businesses need.”

New College Durham is also one of only 16 colleges in the country to have been shortlisted to become an Institute of Technology (IoT). These new facilities would ensure that the college has the teaching space and equipment to meet the demands on being and IoT.

The development is currently in the planning stage and, if approved, work will begin in October 2018.