Stourbridge College to build £5 million A-Level block
Stourbridge College has unveiled plans for a new £5 million A-level block on its main site in the town – and now hopes to win a chunk of cash towards it.
Their funding bid follows hot on the heels of the college winning nearly £3 million from the Government's enhanced renewal fund for a new health and social care centre, costing £4.5m, on the Hagley Road site.
College principal Lynette Cutting said a bid was being prepared to submit to the same fund for a contribution towards the cost of a new building to replace the existing outworn facilities for A-level students in Hagley Road.
It was hoped that a bid would be sent in next month and, if approved, the replacement block for A-level students would be completed by 2015, the year after the hoped-for opening of the new health and social care facilities. "We have about 500 students doing A-levels and our AS results are 10 per cent above the national average, with second-year A-level students five per cent above the average," said Mrs Cutting.
"Stourbridge already has the King Edward VI sixth form college and a sixth form at Oldswinford Hospital School and we are not trying to take students away from other establishments.
"But we want to provide the best facilities for our students."
The college – currently consulting over plans to merge with Birmingham Metropolitan College – is also aiming to invest a further £1m in a new, artificial grass sports pitch at its recently opened sporting centre of excellence in Kidderminster.
And, during the spring, it aims to put up for sale the former art college facilities at the Longlands site in Stourbridge.
A new £12m art and design centre was launched by the college in Venture Way, Brierley Hill, about 18 months ago.
The Longlands site will be marked for residential development but it is not yet known whether that would retain the former school buildings there or whether they would be totally demolished.
The college governors are hoping the sale could bring in around £2.5m towards its development plans. And, longer term, if the merger with Birmingham Metropolitan College goes ahead, they believe they will have more clout to to attract bigger funding grants towards future developments.
