Plans for £10m college providing '˜skills employers need' given go ahead

The Ron Dearing UTC will be built on John Street car park next door to Hull New Theatre facing Kingston Square, despite residents’ objections. Specialising in digital technology and mechatronics - a combination of computing and engineering - and sponsored by the University of Hull, KC, Siemens and Spencer Group, it will take up to 600 students aged 14 to 19, with the first intake starting next September.

Residents had complained about the “ugly brutalist” design and congestion and parking problems caused by 600 students in an area where theatregoers and locals can find it hard to park.

Hull Civic Society also backed concerns over the loss of the car park and suggested it should be built on the site of Queen’s Gardens police station instead.

One resident told councillors yesterday: “I don’t understand why they are taking out this tiny car park which actually has a purpose to provide parking for people going to the theatre and to us.

“It feels Victorian, cramming something in.”

But chair of trustees Charlie Spencer said the UTC would give students the skills employers were crying out for and put the city “right at the top table where it deserves to be.”

He said afterwards they were determined to be good neighbours.

He also praised the council’s “tremendous commitment” to the project, saying they shared their vision “of a new model of education to equip local young people with the skills and aptitude to seize rapidly-growing opportunities in digital, manufacturing and engineering industries and drive the region’s economy forward.”

The new four-storey building will include space for testing and demonstrating product prototypes, mechatronics and digital technology workshops, and a research and conference centre.