North East & Yorkshire Premier Construction

Sunderland College City

Sunderland College
Written by Roma Publications

Sunderland College City – Sunderland’s impressive campus

Sunderland College

City Campus External

A brand new college campus in Sunderland, aimed at providing hands on vocational training for students, has received widespread praise from students and industry professionals since opening in September 2016. The latest success for Sunderland College City Campus is a RICS nomination in the ‘Community Benefit’ category.

Located in the heart of the city centre, the new campus is home to a large proportion of Sunderland College’s professional and technical courses. With state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, the building is also open to the public enabling students to gain real-life industry experience.

Commercial outlets open to the public include a salon, barbers, spa and travel agency as well as a high-end bistro.

Verity Dodd, Director of Marketing and Events, and Steve Brown, Director of Facilities Management, spoke to Premier Construction about the City Campus project. Verity began:

“As a college we’ve got four campuses in Sunderland but City Campus is predominantly used for vocational teaching. Within the building we’ve got students who are studying construction, advanced manufacturing and engineering, automotive trades, travel and tourism, hair, beauty and barbering and catering and hospitality.

“We have designed each area of the campus as close as possible to the environments our young people will progress to in their career pathways and worked very closely with industry leaders to ensure that this campus delivers in every way.  It’s a fast changing world – particularly in industries like engineering, so it was important to meet a specification that aligns with industry standards.”

As a whole, the building has been designed to be as energy efficient as possible. Solar panels, heat retaining glass and energy efficient lighting are all present along with under floor heating in certain areas of the building. Gabion baskets at the front of the building have been filled with reclaimed stones from the local beach. Steve continued:

“There are elements that are open to the public including an 80 cover restaurant, a hair and beauty salon and a spa. The design of the building has the commercial activities located at the front allowing the remainder of the building to be closed when not in use.

The chance to gain vital industry experience has been welcomed by students and the RICS nomination is further proof of the decision to embark on the major project. Verity concluded:

“Feedback from students so far has been exceptionally positive, particularly from students who have gone from the previous campus to this new one. They can now work in real life working environments and are really enjoying the experience.”

Steve added:

“The RICS nomination brings everything together. There was a lot of hard work invested in the project,  ensuring it was delivered  in a  20 month timescale . The nomination recognises all the of the hard work preparing the building for our students”

To find out more about the facilities at Sunderland College City Campus, please visit: citycampus.site.

 

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