The Government has granted Shrewsbury College £1 million towards a £3 million upgrade of its London Road site – the Chronicle can reveal.
Business secretary Vince Cable and skills minister John Hayes announced the funding yesterday as part of a £50 million investment by the coalition government in further education.
Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology which has campuses on London Road and in Radbrook and Telford, has been given the £1 million grant by the Skills Funding Agency which is paying for improvement work to colleges across the country. It is one of only 21 colleges to have been given an enhanced renewal grant.
The college which has more than 10,000 students from throughout the county, as well as further afield, will add £2 million to the pot itself for the work to re-develop the London Road sight after co-location plans were shelved.
Work to upgrade the technology building and create more student space is expected to begin in November.
Greg Molan, Shrewsbury College principal, said the ‘much-needed capital investment’ meant the college could now completely renovate and upgrade its technology building to provide better facilities, more student space and a new IT infrastructure.
“This will greatly enhance the students’ experience,” he added.
“We have been reviewing our options following the disappointment of the co-location project not proceeding and this will be phase one of our re-development plan for London Road. We intend to exceed expectations of what our students and the local community want from their college. The £1 million grant has been awarded due to the strength of our proposals and we will contribute £2 million to this £3 million scheme which needs to be completed and operational for the students attending from September 2011.
“The tender for the building contract will go out in the next fortnight with the intention of work commencing in November,” he added.
Yesterday business secretary Vince Cable said: “Improving people’s skills is a key part of this government’s plans to secure economic growth, and colleges are right in the frontline of this challenge.
“We want them to be able to attract students and give them the best learning experience possible.”
Further education, skills and lifelong learning minister John Hayes said: “This is good news for all those that want to improve their skills and get on in life, good for FE and good for the communities colleges serve.”
by Anna Williams