Cash-strapped college to spend £7.5m on engineering building

The college – which is currently shedding jobs and looking to save money – secured money for the new building in 2009 and says the project remains on track.

The college’s proposals are for a £7.5m engineering college on a vacant site off St Andrew’s Road in a mainly industrial area.

Council officers are urging councillors to give the plans the go-ahead.

A report on the application will be discussed by a planning committee on Thursday this week.

It claims the proposed site is in a “sustainable location” and is “well related to the main college campus, currently under construction at the Waterfront” on land between Chapel Hill, Manchester Road the River Colne.

The proposal is for maintenance and fabrication workshops and also a motor vehicle department. There will also be classrooms, demonstration areas, offices and associated student facilities such as a refectory.

The building itself will be two storeys high and have a total floor area of over 5,700 square metres, the report says.

The application is for phase one of a two-stage plan.

Just three letters of objection have been sent to the council. Objectors have claimed the site should be safeguarded for industry and not educational uses.

It is also claimed that use of the site will intensify the use of Lincoln Street for heavy goods vehicles, which will cause problems for existing local firms.

The planning report states the proposed building will improve the area.

“The site is currently vacant and the surrounding properties are of industrial appearance. The proposal is a contemporary hi-tech design that is considered will make a positive contribution to the character of the area, and deliver visual enhancement.

“The style, materials and scale are reflective of the industrial surroundings.”

The report adds that the new college building will generate a number of jobs – for teachers and lecturers – as well as providing a number of training courses for apprentices working in manufacturing and engineering.

It states: “The design is contemporary and hi-tech. The buildings previously to be demolished to enable the improved access of Turnbridge Road are now to be retained.

“The appearance and style of building are entirely appropriate for this location, and represent a significant improvement visually upon the previous and neighbouring buildings.

“As such there is considered to be a significant improvement in terms of visual amenity.

“The riverside tree belt is retained, thus preserving the view from the bride on Wakefield Road.”

College bosses said the funding was already in place for the engineering building.

It is hoped that both the Waterfront development and the new engineering building will be on track to open next year.

Kirklees College’s vice-principal, Melanie Brooke, said: “The engineering block is part of the college’s long-term planned project for estates development.

“The funding for this project was agreed by the Skills Funding Agency and Kirklees Council following a successful capital bid in 2009 and remains secure.

“The money can only be used for the purpose in which the original bid outlined. This purpose was for the college to move from its current New North Road buildings to state of the art, environmentally sound, purpose-built centres.

“The money will be drawn down as the project progresses and cannot be used for any other purpose.

“Subject to a successful planning application, the college is still on track to open both centres in September 2012.”

Members of the Huddersfield area planning sub-committee will discuss the plans on Thursday.