Member Article

University Technical College Sheffield opens to train talent in vital growth areas

Yorkshire’s first university technical college has opened its doors to students this week. University Technical College (UTC) Sheffield, built by Wates Construction, is a £9.9 million, three-storey facility, on Shoreham Street, Sheffield city centre and one of 12 new UTCs opening nationally this month. In Sheffield City Region, the UTC’s catchment area, there is a shortage of skilled workers for the advanced engineering and manufacturing and the creative and digital industries, which are growth areas regionally and nationally. As such, the college will specialise in training 14 - 19-year-olds in these areas.

Students complete a technical qualification in one of these subjects as well as traditional academic qualifications, including GCSEs and A Levels. The first intake comprises 138 Year 12 and 102 Year 10 pupils and next year, numbers will increase to 600 overall. The UTC Sheffield is fitted with £1 million of specialist equipment, including engineering mini factories, Arduino and Raspberry Pi workshops for creating and testing technology and advanced Apple Mac design suites with the latest hardware. It also has high tech studios for digital and creative media projects, including music and sound technology, film, animation and photography, and a rooftop sports pitch to maximise space at its city centre location. The facility includes the refurbishment of the former Victorian Sydney Works building, previously a silversmiths, which will now house part of the creative and digital department. More than 40 employers from both the advanced engineering and manufacturing and creative and digital media industries are backing UTC Sheffield in a range of ways. This includes providing sponsorship and work placements, and shaping the curriculum and its content by setting industry based projects. Key supporters include Siemens, Newburgh Engineering, Rolls Royce, Sheffield Forgemasters, Tata Steel, the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing, Performance Engineered Solutions, Team Cooper Games, Warp Films, Edumake technology, Resolve IT, Visionmix, and many more. The UTC Sheffield is run by the UTC Sheffield Academy Trust. It has been sponsored and led by The Sheffield College with Sheffield Hallam University and the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry as co-sponsors. Sheffield City Council initiated the application and provided the land on a 125-year lease at a peppercorn rent.

UTC Sheffield has been funded by the Department for Education and designed by HLM Architects, with construction beginning onsite in September last year.

Nick Crew, principal, said: “I am delighted at now being in the UTC Sheffield building with the full staff team and our students. The building, resources and curriculum planning are extremely impressive and will help to have a real impact on the future region’s young people and economic growth in our two focus areas.”

Richard Scarrott, operations director, Wates Construction, added: “Having been involved with so many of the region’s education facilities it has been a real privilege for Wates to build Yorkshire’s very first UTC. I’m delighted to hand over this fantastic facility to its new owners and wish its first students every success with this innovative style of work-based learning.” With the dozen coming on stream this month, there are now 17 UTCs across the country and this number is set to increase to 44 by 2015. Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central, concluded: “I’m really excited by the opening of the UTC in the heart of my constituency. From digging the foundations to opening in one year is no mean feat The UTC will give our young people the skills they need to succeed in advanced manufacturing and creative and digital industries and I can’t wait to see what they do next.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gatehouse .