Multi-million pound engineering school to open in Walsall

The Black Country University Technical College (UTC), which opened in September 2011, is to move to a former car repair shop next to Walsall College's £64 million Wisemore Campus.

The empty building will be refurbished as part of the £6m plans and an extension would be built to allow the school to cater for up to 480 pupils aged from 14 to 19.

Up to 300 students are expected to make the move to the site, off Portland Street, from April 2016 after bosses said the current site in Vernon Way, Bloxwich, was too restrictive.

The current school building, based at the site of the former Sneyd Community School, is currently leased from Walsall Council and would be handed back to the local authority.

Bosses say the new town centre location would make the facility more accessible to students and will provide state-of-the-art facilities.

Henriette Harnisch, chair of governors at the Black Country UTC, which is sponsored by Walsall College and the University of Wolverhampton, said the current site in Bloxwich had proved challenging for recruitment due to its location and restricted public transport links.

She said: "This new state-of-the-art college will provide a number of major benefits for current and future students and we're delighted that the Department for Education has backed our proposals with capital funds.

"We know this kind of vocational education works and we're keen to widen this out so that we can provide greater learning and employment opportunities across the region."

The move means that long-standing plans to expand on the current site which would have also seen another college, the West Midlands Construction UTC move there have been abandoned. It has not yet been revealed where the construction college will now be based.

Instead the new facility will be situated yards away from Walsall College's Wisemore campus and the £11m business and sports hub, which is due to open in September 2015.

Bosses say the move will also further boost the region's capability to meet the skills gap in engineering, as the college creates a new £300,000 engineering manufacturing workshop at its nearby Green Lane campus, which is due to launch in September.

Walsall College's principal and chief executive, Jatinder Sharma said the new facility for the Black Country UTC represented a £6m investment and substantial regeneration within the town centre.

He said: "These new central facilities will allow more students than ever before to benefit from fantastic teaching and learning as we train the workforce of the future and help to boost the economy by meeting the regional skills gap for engineering and science."

He said consultations had previously been held with students, parents and staff.

A planning application is due to be lodged in October, and it is hoped that work could start next year with a completion date set for spring 2016.

Paul Averis has also been announced as the new principal of the Black Country UTC and will take up his role in September.

The 41-year-old father-of-one, from Barton-under-Needwood, joins the school from Birmingham Ormiston Academy, where he was vice principal for three years.

He said he was thrilled to be appointed as principal and he had three priorities in his first year, including making sure students made high levels of progress, setting the tone and standards for students to enrol at the Black Country UTC and using the sponsors and partners to bring science and engineering to life.

He added: "In meeting current students, staff and parents, there is a clear sense of pride in the school and a determination to succeed.

"The successful partnerships already established at the UTC, such as that with Siemens UK, will give our students a cutting edge in the workplace and certainly attracted me to the role."