Groundbreaking UTC given green light

Reporter: RICHARD HOOTON
Date published: 13 June 2013


OLDHAM’S new University Technical College (UTC) is set to open next September, education chiefs announced this morning.

The state-of-the-art, energy-efficient building in Middleton Road college - to be known as the Greater Manchester Sustainable Engineering UTC - is expected to cost around £9 million.

The site is on the existing Oldham College campus, next to the new Digital and Creative Skills centre, itself due for completion at the end of next year.

Alongside this and a new “learning hub” currently under construction, the new building will be part of a £25m redevelopment.

Education chiefs say the UTC will bring facilities unique in the region. University technical colleges are a radical new approach to technical and vocational education, offering a broad curriculum with a mixture of academic and vocational qualifications. The building will even be part of the curriculum: students will be able to examine its internal operation as part of their courses.

Work is now going on to develop the final layout, so plans can be submitted for approval in the summer for work to start in November. The building is likely to be four storeys, with space for 600 students.

The academic sponsor will be the University of Bolton and the lead employer the Equity Solutions group, which already operates in Oldham. The company’s managing partner Mike Dwan, founder of the Bright Tribe education charity, will chair the college trust.

Oldham College is the educational partner for the project and a member of the trust. College principal Alun Francis said: “Our strategy is to work with the right employers, universities and other partners to radically improve the status and quality of vocational and technical education. The UTC represents a huge step in the right direction.

“Engineering is a very significant growth sector. This will be a pioneering, game-changing project and we plan to extend the same principles to other economic sectors, such as digital, in due course.”

Councillor Abdul Jabbar, an Oldham College governor, said: “The new facility will help to transform vocational training and is a radical and visionary step forward for the whole borough.”

There are currently only five UTCs across the country, with 12 more opening in September.

Fifteen will open in 2014, and another13 in 2015.