Growth Deal Benefits City College by £5.43million

As part of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Growth Deal funding from government, City College Plymouth is to receive £5.43million of capital funding towards the development of a purpose built facility on its Kings Road site to train and inspire learners in the key priority growth sectors for the City.

This new build will provide a hub for learning centres of excellence in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), Creative and Digital Technologies and Marine Engineering. This is in line with the priorities outlined in the Plymouth and South West Peninsula City Deal and those of the proposed Marine Industries Production Campus.

The centres will facilitate more cross-curriculum learning, with a student-centred approach that reinforces the critical role experience and practice play in learning. They will continue to embed enterprise and entrepreneurship through the College’s portfolio, and allow for more tailored business support for SMEs and the marine and creative sectors.

The realisation of this significant project will also enable City College to relocate all its activities from the Goschen Centre to Kings Road, and develop business start-up support. Initial timelines are indicating that the new facility will be opening in September 2017.

The Principal of City College Plymouth, Phil Davies, said: “I am delighted that our proposal, submitted by the Heart of the South West LEP, has been successful. City College is the principal provider of technical and vocational skills based education for young people and adults in the City. It is essential that the College is able to support existing and future regeneration projects and contribute to the wider skills needs of the City and region. This in turn supports the region’s strategies for growth and prosperity.

“The College needs to continually be investing in its estate and facilities to ensure that we are able to deliver a range of provision from entry to university-level education. The portfolio we are developing has a strong focus on delivering employer-driven provision, creating job-ready students and proactively promoting wealth creation through embedding enterprise and employability. This is critical if we are to raise the aspirations of Plymouth’s young people, particularly in this current economic period where youth unemployment is unacceptably high.

“As a result of this funding the College will be able to enhance the support we give to local business and the region’s key employment and wealth-creating sectors by providing the skills they need to become more competitive.”

Councillor Tudor Evans, Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “I’m particularly delighted to see some money coming to City College to help encourage the next generation embrace Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Marine Skills, and the Creative and Cultural Industries. These are sectors Plymouth has identified as having significant potential for job creation, and specifically high value jobs that will encourage high educational performance and aspiration among our young people.”