Work starts on new £11m Walsall College base

The £11 million campus is being created next to the main Walsall College Wisemore site after the council agreed to release its land.

College bosses say the new hub is now becoming 'more and more of a reality'.

Initial drilling works has now started to help improve underground conditions of the vacant site off the main Littleton Street West.

There are pockets of limestone under the surface which have previously been infilled but extra grout filling is necessary.

A tender process is ongoing and once a main build contractor is appointed the construction of the state-of-the-art three-storey building will start in August.

It is hoped the new campus will be open for September 2015.

It forms part of the long-term £400m Gigaport initiative, which will create a business and office development along part of Walsall ring road.

The campus will include a business incubation centre, sports hall with badminton courts to Sport England standards, dance and fitness studios and restaurant.

Deb Rajania, director of operations and resources at Walsall College, said: "Walsall's new Business and Sports Hub is becoming more and more a reality after acquiring the land from Walsall Council and we are now completing preparatory work on the infilled underground limestone caverns that exist from historical mining operations.

"This limestone exists in other parts of Walsall because of its history as a mining town and these drilling operations are going on to carry out grout filling to improve the condition of the land to current building standards.

"I'm pleased to confirm the college remains on target for the hub to open in September 2015 and we are currently going through a procurement process to appoint a main build contractor before the main work starts on site this August.

"The Walsall Business and Sports Hub will be open to the public outside of core college hours.

"We are looking forward to creating a venue where the business community and budding entrepreneurs will take advantage of its incubation facilities and training opportunities and the wider community will have greater opportunity to get involved in sport and physical activity."

Simon Neilson, executive director for regeneration at the council, said: "We're delighted to have supported the college throughout the planning stages, particularly their acquisition of the site for what is yet another fantastic investment in Walsall and the Gigaport development in particular. We're looking forward to seeing this state-of-the-art facility in the town.

"The local economy will benefit significantly from the skills and abilities of young entrepreneurs, whilst the centre itself has the potential to create scores of job opportunities in the borough."