23/06/14
INVESTMENT IN FACILITIES GIVES CAMPUS NEW ENERGY
The new centre has been specially designed to be environmentally self-sufficient helping to reduce its carbon footprint by creating heat and power through solar technology, electricity and water and it will be one of the first campuses to house its own hydrogen fuel cell for teaching purposes.
The £8.5 million investment, of which £2.9 million is grant funded by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), will create a new reception area, hall and Learning Resources Centre with improved access and will provide enhanced study centres and working spaces. A state of the art sustainable centre at the heart of the campus will provide better connectivity between the classrooms which will support a wide range of industries including telecoms, engineering, robotics, medical engineering, vocational science as well as health and social care.
John Starmer, Executive Director of Estates at Birmingham Metropolitan College, said: “This substantial investment in a new Sustainable Energy Centre at one of our main campuses in Birmingham is really exciting for students, staff and partner employers who use the facilities. Our aim is to offer a range of vibrant and active environmentally-focused workshops and teaching areas some of which will be sponsored by leading employers Baxi, Thorlux and Samsung.
“But our main aim through this new centre will be its focus on green technology allowing the campus to be environmentally self-sufficient by generating our own energy and making a significant contribution to reducing the carbon footprint.”
Speller Metcalfe has been appointed as contractor and we will be providing Master Class sessions for a range of students studying Construction Trades and Built Environment courses at other campuses. As a construction company we recruit and train numerous apprentices and provide work experience opportunities for students as well as sourcing as many sub-contractors within a 30 mile radius of site as we can.
Steve Speller, Joint MD at Speller Metcalfe said: “We were delighted to have been successful in our bid to contribute to this exciting project for Birmingham Metropolitan College. We pride ourselves on working to the highest levels of sustainable building and company standards and it will be wonderful to work on creating a sustainable centre which has environmental technologies as its focus.”
New courses on offer at the James Watt Campus Sustainable Energy Centre will be Biomass Boilers, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Solar PV & Thermal, Grey Water Harvesting as well as Hydro Generation and Rapid Prototyping. Ground work has already started on the new centre with work due to be complete by October 2014.
Anyone interested in studying at James Watt Campus in Great Barr should check out the website: www.bmetc.ac.uk.