The College has submitted a planning application to build a brand new £13million campus, alongside its existing campus on the city’s South Bank.
If the application is successful, work could start this summer on the new building, which would cover approximately 5,200 square metres over four storeys, offering a range of classrooms, workshops and an impressive central atrium. The building would be ready for the start of the 2018/19 academic year.
The development will be supported by a grant from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership and will complement the existing South Bank campus, which opened during the summer of 2015. The £17million, 8,500 square metre building occupies a prominent position between Cudbear Street and Black Bull Street and now serves a large number of the college's 7,000 students, along with the existing North Street and Millwright Street campuses.
Ian Billyard, Principal at the College, explains: “This is another exciting development for Leeds College of Building as we look to further grow our presence in the South Bank area of Leeds. It’s just over 18 months since we opened our last campus and it has immediately become a major success story as well as a catalyst for what is now widely recognised as Leeds’s ‘education hub’.
“This new building will give us another modern learning environment where both students and staff can thrive, and it will enable us to continue building on the high standard of education and training that we are renowned for. It will also be highly sustainable and will prioritise all the modern building values of the 21st century, which is an integral part of the curriculum across all our trades and courses.”
Mike Harris from Leeds architecture practice Fuse Studios, which has designed both the new building as well as the college’s existing South Bank site, says: “We’re delighted to be working with Leeds College of Building again on another hugely exciting project. The new building is specifically designed to sit comfortably alongside Leeds College of Building’s flagship South Bank campus. It features red-brick and metal cladding, to echo the area's industrial heritage, and will be another highly sustainable building, set to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating. Phase Two will be a teaching tool in its own right for the College’s students and has the potential to become another landmark building in this fast moving part of the city.”
