‘Trailblazing’ Ashington Campus begins to take shape

Northumberland College’s new Ashington Campus is starting to take shape as the £52 million development enters its next phase.

With the groundwork and foundations now complete, the steel frames for the Centre of Technical Excellence, Heart of the Campus and Student Life Centre are currently being assembled on the site at Advance Northumberland’s Wansbeck Business Park.

In the coming weeks, main contractor Bowmer + Kirkland will take delivery of precast elements of the buildings such as concrete floor planks, concrete staircases, and Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) wall and roof panels which are being manufactured off-site using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).

Michael Armstrong, Project Manager at Bowmer+Kirkland, said: “The use of off-site MMC is allowing us to deliver the new Ashington Campus faster than traditional methods of construction and to the highest standards of quality.”

The new Ashington Campus will revolutionise the education and skills landscape in the North East and beyond, offering state-of-the-art teaching and learning environments aligned to industry priority areas.

Supported by the Department for Education (DfE), the campus will offer study routes for 16-19-year-olds and adult including A-Levels, T Levels, technical qualifications, apprenticeships, higher nationals, degrees and part-time study programmes.

A new School of Health will be opened, supported by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the Cramlington Health and Care Academy, featuring a new curriculum aligned to the needs of the NHS and the broader health & care sector.

The school will also partner with Northumbria University, providing professions-facing pathways to guaranteed interviews for higher education courses.

The ‘Heart of the Campus’ building will feature a specialist hub for young people with SEND, the first of its kind in Ashington, as well as commercial facilities which will be open to the public and local businesses.

Judith Quinn, Campus Principal for Northumberland College, said: “Seeing the steel frames being erected on site and seeing our campus buildings take shape is an exciting milestone for the project.

“It provides an understanding of the size and scale of the campus which will revolutionise skills training in the North East and the wider region, becoming a changemaking education hub of innovation training which will unlock potential, create opportunities and transform lives.”