Sunderland College gets keys to campus

Accommodating up to 2,000 students and 120 staff, Sunderland College, Holmside Vocational Campus has been officially handed over.

The multi-million pound steel-framed Campus covers 12,500m² and houses vocational courses, transferred from the nearby Hylton Campus, including advanced engineering, manufacturing, construction trades, automotive trades, travel and tourism, and catering and hospitality.

The Campus also features hair, beauty and barbering facilities; a spa; a bakery; a travel agency; restaurant and a car repair service, all of which are accessible to the public.

The steel-framed Campus consists of two teaching wings, a two-storey high classroom block and a two-storey Learning Resources Centre (LRC) building. Both of these wings are joined at the western end by a three-storey high entrance building that also incorporates an atrium.

In order to best utilise the plot a steel-framed structure incorporating a 120m-long retaining wall was chosen as the best design choice.

The retaining wall allows the steel-framed structure to adapt to the site’s tricky topography and thereby include a basement level along the entire south facing classroom block.

“A steel-framed solution was chosen for a number of reasons such as programme and cost. However the main driver was the flexibility that steel provided for services distribution and for modification in the future,” said WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff Project Engineer Andrew Cornwall.

Working on behalf of main contractor Bam Construction, Harry Marsh [Engineers] fabricated, supplied and erected 900t of structural steelwork for the project.

Principal and Chief Executive Ellen Thinnesen said we are delighted to take control of the building, which is the college’s flagship base for technical and professional education and training.

She said: “Whilst Sunderland College already makes a £444.5M yearly economic contribution to the North East business community, City Campus is hugely significant to the ongoing development of the organisation, the city and wider area.

“The Campus is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, each floor and area focussed on the world of work and key North East industry sectors. I have worked in several colleges across the country and City Campus tops them all.”