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Wolverhampton University buys fire-ravaged Springfield site

Springfield Brewery is to be transformed into a new university campus and school under £60 million plans revealed today.

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The University of Wolverhampton has agreed to buy the derelict and fire-ravaged brewery to create a new centre to educate generations of students wanting to work in the construction industry.

There are plans to redevelop the site to become the home of the new West Midlands University Technical College (UTC) for Construction, which the university is sponsoring along with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). And the university also plans to relocate its own School of Architecture and the Built Environment there.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Professor Geoff Layer, said: "This will provide a centre of excellence with the most comprehensive construction education and training not only in the country but in Europe."

An agreement to buy the 12-acre land, which has been vacant since 1991 when the Mitchells and Butler brewery closed, has been reached with the aim to finalise the deal in the next few months.

It has not been revealed how much of the site, which dates back to 1873, will be preserved and which parts will be torn down. The brewery buildings were destroyed by fires in 2004 and 2005.

Springfield Brewery had long been set aside for housing and more than £2 million was spent bringing buildings back to their former glory so they could become 140 flats. But the full plans never went ahead.

The UTC will provide education for 14 to 19-year-olds with a special focus on construction skills.

It will open in September 2015 on a temporary site before moving into the new buildings at Springfield in September 2016.

The University's School of Architecture and the Built Environment, which is currently based within the city centre campus, provides courses in construction management, civil engineering, quantity surveying, architecture and environmental management. It currently has around 1,000 students and is expected to grow by a third after the move.

Professor Layer said: "We are delighted to be working with the CITB in bringing this project together. This is hugely positive news for the construction industry and for Wolverhampton and the Black Country.

"The development will put the area on the map in terms of construction education and training and will mean that we can provide skills and education from the age of 14, right through to senior professionals wanting to improve their own development.

"It is also exciting for the City of Wolverhampton. It was a key factor for us to have this new centre here in the city to support economic development by regenerating a brownfield site and creating jobs and providing the right skills needed by industry.

"This area has a history of manufacturing and once up and running the centre will provide future opportunities for people to continue adding to that heritage."

Tom MacDonald, principal designate of WMCUTC added: "Being able to build the WMCUTC on the Springfield Brewery site is great news.

"A formerly derelict site will now become the home of a world beating, state of the art UTC offering unique opportunities and high quality education for talented students from across the West Midlands.

"Uniquely the first group of students to join us in September 2015 will also get to work on the design and planning for the new build. In the years to come, the West Midlands Construction UTC will transform not only the career prospects of its students but the economy of a once derelict area of the city."

Councillor Peter Bilson, Wolverhampton City Council's deputy leader, said it was an exciting proposal.

"This will breathe new life into a vacant site and bring more jobs and opportunity to our city," he said. "The construction sector has a major role to play in the overall regeneration and long term prosperity of Wolverhampton.

"It is therefore important that a skilled workforce is developed to take advantage of career opportunities that will arise over the next few years and this development can help us achieve that."

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