The Chamberlain News

Have your say on HS2 engineering college design

Members of the public are being asked to comment on the proposed design of the new National College for High Speed Rail headquarters, which is to be built in Birmingham. 

The latest illustrations of what the three-storey, 5,700 square metre building could look like will be on show at the city council’s Lancaster Circus offices on Friday 6 November and Monday 9 November.

Local people are being encouraged to comment on the plans for the building which will be located on the site of Birmingham Science Park off the A4540 Dartmouth Middleway and Lister Street.

A planning application will be submitted to the council with a decision due in March 2016. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2016 with the college due to open to students in September 2017.

The National College for High Speed Rail will provide specialist vocational training for future generations of engineers.  It represents the next step in developing the highly skilled workforce needed to build High Speed Two (HS2), and other major rail and infrastructure projects.

In September 2014, the Government announced that the National College for High Speed Rail would be jointly located at two sites, one in Birmingham which will also house the College’s headquarters and an additional campus in Doncaster.

Birmingham city council is donating land valued at £4.2 million for the development, while Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) is also putting £6 million into the project.

Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham city council, said:

Birmingham is at the heart of the HS2 development.  Our plans for wider regeneration and job growth through key sites such as Curzon Station, UK Central and the maintenance depot at Washwood Heath are advancing at some pace.

The arrival of the National College for High Speed Rail will help deliver the education, skills and apprenticeships required to build run and maintain HS2.  Once the college opens in Birmingham, it will be pivotal in providing the digital engineering and advanced construction skills needed by the rail sector and future infrastructure projects.

I would urge young people, parents, carers and teachers to think about how they can get involved and make the most of this new College, starting with feedback on its design.

Andrew Cleaves, Board Director at GBSLEP, said the new college would help to transform the lives of thousands of local people as part of the wider HS2 Growth Strategy plan.

With such a young population here in the region, skills development and apprenticeship opportunities leading to high-value jobs are vital.  This college will help create a skills legacy for generations to come.”

Birmingham is already home to HS2 Ltd’s construction headquarters at Two Snow Hill, with up to 1,500 jobs being created including civil, rail and site engineering and design, project management, procurement and health and safety.