Surgo puts finishing touches to a £3.1m STEM Centre extension at Middlesbrough College
With the final pieces of turf being laid, Surgo has completed work on a design and build contract to construct a three-storey extension to the STEM Centre at the Middlehaven Campus of Middlesbrough College.
Work began just over a year ago to construct additional classroom and training spaces in meet a growth in demand from students wishing to study at the college.
Following its selection by the Department for Education (DfE) to be a partner in the North East Institute of Technology (IoT), Middlesbrough College has become the sole deliverer of IoT accredited courses in the Tees Valley.
With courses that include higher education qualifications in Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies, Construction Planning and the Built Environment as well as Information and Communication Technology and Business Management, more space and facilities were required.
Designed by further education building design specialists, Bond Bryan Architecture of Sheffield, the STEM Centre extension has increased the college’s original STEM space by 11,800 sq ft to enable the delivery of these IoT courses. Students began using the facilities at the start of the new academic year.
The £3.1m project, which received funding of £2.7m from the DfE, has significantly enhanced the teaching and learning environment for the 3,000 students (one fifth of the college’s overall student population) who will pass through the STEM Centre each year.
Professor Brian Cox CBE visited the college during the summer, saying that the investment by Middlesbrough College – which includes a new state-of-the-art Digital Centre as well as the STEM Centre – will put young people across the region at the “forefront of the new industrial revolution”, adding that in his opinion, Middlesbrough is ‘well ahead of the curve when it comes to delivering technical training’, because there is a real understanding in the region of what industry needs.
Martin Blight, Surgo’s pre-construction director, said: “We were delighted to be appointed to this scheme and ideally qualified to handle it, given our prior experience at the site, which included the construction of the college’s MC6 Sixth Form Centre in 2015, as well as many other successful regional education and public sector projects.”
As part of the college’s expansion plans, in March, we also began work on the T Levels Digital Centre after winning a competitive tender to build a 1600m2 three-storey facility, which will include a new construction workshop and expanded catering facilities and will also become home to specialist teaching spaces for media studies including subjects such as TV and film production as well as computer games.
Martin continued: “These projects allow us to strengthen our professional relationship with Middlesbrough College and build on our extensive experience of delivering high quality education facilities. Additionally, we are able to play our part in supporting two key growth strands of the regional economy – science and technology.”
Surgo’s professional team included construction manager, Mike Pitchford; quantity surveyor, Michael Parkin; planner, Carl Swatton and site manager, Andy Laidler.
https://issuu.com/chrislilly/docs/psbj_january_22 more information can be found on pages 8-11.