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Work Gets Underway On £23m South Bristol Skills Academy

Work is under way on the £23m South Bristol Skills Academy after a turf cutting ceremony was carried out by the Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP, Keith Elliott, the college principal, Neil Sherreard, divisional managing director of Cowlin and former pupil of City of Bristol College and a current pupil from City of Bristol College.

Work Gets Underway On £30m South Bristol Skills Academy

The academy is the centrepiece of a partnership between the college, Bristol City Council, south Bristol secondary schools and the Learning & Skills Academy to drive up educational and vocational standards for all 14 to 19 year olds.

As well as the 4,000 students from this age group, the new Skills Academy will also play host to around 250 adult students taking training and educational courses.

“The South Bristol Skills Academy will play the leading role in helping young people in this part of the city leave education with the skills to get them into employment,” said Keith Elliott, Principal of the City of Bristol College. “We have been working hard with schools, community groups, government departments, regional agencies and local employers to make sure that when the academy opens in September 2010, it will offer the range of courses needed to equip local people for jobs in and around the city.”

The academy will employ around 150 staff who will deliver a range of courses including construction; health and social care; leisure, hair and beauty; hospitality and catering; motor vehicle, motor cycle and engineering; and information technology.

Neil Sherreard, Cowlin’s divisional managing director for the south west, said: “The Skills Academy is a huge step forward for the regeneration of south Bristol and is an excellent example of the way schools will be built in the future. We hope that the students and teachers will get as much out of the new building as we’ve put into it.”

The four storey, ‘iconic’ building forms the gateway to the Hengrove Park regeneration project and has been designed to compliment the new Hartcliffe Community Campus.