College gets boost of almost £1m

The grant of 929,126 has been awarded by the Skills Funding Agency and the college has announced that work on the long-awaited project is now set to get underway next month.

It has appointed BAM Construction, responsible for the landmark Rose Bowl building at Leeds Metropolitan University, as the main contractor and has set mid-October as the start date.

It is hoped that news that building work is due to get underway will prove a major boost to the local economy and 30 local firms have already been briefed about the plans.

The local firms were invited to tender for sub-contracts at an event held at the college last month and there is still time for businesses to apply.

Chris Jones, principal of Calderdale College, said the college was "delighted" to have been selected for the grant which would help the college to offer a first-rate learning environment.

"It is a sign of the confidence that the Skills Funding Agency has in the college and in our ambition to provide skills and training for the people of Calderdale in a first class environment."

Calderdale College, whose main campus is in Halifax, is self-financing the redevelopment to the tune of 6.6m following the collapse of a rebuilding programme last year.

Revised plans for revamping the college campus were announced earlier this year after the earlier project hit the buffers after the Learning and Skills Council had run out of cash.

A funding blunder saw schemes across the country – totalling almost 3bn and which had already been given "approval in principle" – put on hold because of a lack of money.

In July, the revised plans were given the go-ahead by members of Calderdale Council's planning committee.

The redevelopment will include a sports hall, fitness suite, dance studio and all-weather pitch to support the college's growing football, rugby and dance academies.

These facilities will also be available for community use and, it is hoped, will help to improve the fitness and well-being of Calderdale residents.

A new two-storey teaching block and information technology learning resource centre will also be built alongside the new sports hall.

In addition, a new entrance and atrium for buildings on the west side of Francis Street in Halifax, on the present Princess Mary site, will be linked to the main Percival Whitley entrance on the east side by an external landscaped connection, bringing the two campuses closer together.

There will also be a new entrance to the main site, partial refurbishment of the ground floor and redecoration throughout.

Longer-term plans could include the creation of a new construction centre.

The first phase of the project is expected to take a year to complete and college chiefs have said that disruption to teaching throughout the works will be minimal.

Calderdale College's main campus is at Francis Street, Halifax but it also delivers building, construction skills, hairdressing and beauty at its North Halifax Skills Centre.

In Todmorden it teaches art and design to degree level, while at Mytholmroyd it has a Childcare Academy and in Brighouse it has the Mark Riley Hair Academy.

The college has 5,000 students and last year 253 students graduated with foundation degrees, BA honours degrees and HNDs along with high level NVQs, diplomas and teaching certificates.