Technology centre gets green light

Hopwood Hall College is to start building a Technology Centre at its Middleton campus. The new centre will house the College’s Engineering and Construction workshops. 

Demolition of existing buildings is well underway at Hopwood Hall’s Middleton campus and is due for completion by end of next week. The foundations of the new Centre will be laid in September with completion expected by July 2011.

The College is hoping that the lure of these purpose-built facilities will boost recruitment of learners from the local community; the Construction industry is enormous and the College offers a wide range of vocational courses that can help local people to get skilled employment in a vast array of professionals.

Saf Arfan, Director for Corporate Services, said “The governors and staff have placed a huge effort in developing the business case for this scheme, in a climate of uncertainly and risk. The former and grander scheme was shelved due to budget cuts, which was a major set-back, but the College persisted and finally achieved a result! This is excellent news and will boost two of our key curriculums: Construction and Engineering”.

The College is now entering the design phase and will be gathering the opinions of key stakeholders to help shape the final plan.