South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) has secured funding for a new college campus at the former nuclear power station at Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) has secured funding for a new college campus at the former nuclear power station at Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
The Gloucestershire Renewable Energy, Engineering and Nuclear (GREEN) project has been awarded £5m from the UK government’s growth fund as the first phase of an anticipated £40m development. This funding will be matched by £5m investment from the college, to develop 14 acres of the now un-licensed Berkeley site and turn it into a state-of-the-art campus which will focus on Engineering and Technology with an emphasis on low-carbon energy generation.
The buildings were part of what was once known as Berkeley Labs, a testing and engineering centre used in the 1960s-80s.
SGS Berkeley GREEN will open in September 2016 after the refurbishment of existing buildings on the site into a purpose-built training centre. It will host SGS College’s existing Engineering and Construction provision currently on the Stroud Campus, Stratford Road site. The Berkeley Campus will be developed over the next five years into a site that will incorporate education, training, business start-up and research facilities in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire and will focus on the development of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the County.
Kevin Hamblin, principal of SGS, thanked support the College has received from the GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership, Stroud District Council and local Member of Parliament, Neil Carmichael, who fought hard to ensure this project was promoted in Westminster.