Stafford College has awarded BAM Construct UK the main construction contract on its £13 million project to rebuild fire-ravaged facilities. The company will deliver a landmark building on the site of former workshops on the college campus.
Large parts of the workshops had been unusable since an electrical fire destroyed the upper part of the building, which used to house courses including motor vehicle maintenance, plumbing, construction, brickwork and carpentry.
These courses are now taught in the nearby Palmbourne Technology Centre, and the workshop building has been demolished, along with the old print room, classrooms and former library damaged in the same fire.
The new facilities have been designed to complement the listed Tenterbanks building adjacent, while remaining contemporary and sustainable.
Scheduled for completion during the summer of 2012, the project will provide state-of-the-art kitchens for hospitality students as well as new premises for the popular campus restaurant run by students.
There will also be a beauty salon open to the public, and the learning resource centre will provide library and other information facilities.
Externally landscaped spaces have been designed for student use, reflecting the high standards of energy conservation within the project.
“We are proud to be making such a large investment in the town at a time when the local economy really needs support,” said Stafford College principal Steve Willis.
“We are creating stunning new facilities for students of the future but because of the fast timescale of the project, many of the students joining us this September will be among the first to benefit from the new resources.”
BAM Construct UK has extensive education experience, having completed new and refurbished campuses worth more than £1.8 billion in the last five years. To the North it completed the highly regarded Newcastle-under-Lyme College, and it has just handed over Wolverhampton Interchange to the South and is about to complete Stourbridge College. BAM Construct project manager David Ellis said: “We are delighted to bring our expertise to provide progressive, contemporary and sustainable facilities for the students of Stafford College. This is an exciting project to be involved in.” In the past, its work in the region has included university buildings, hospitals, and leisure centres
BAM has just been listed in the UK’s ‘Best Companies To Work’ for and ‘Best Green Companies’.
