A college on the coast will rebuild part of its campus after getting a slice of £1.5 billion government funding.
East Coast College has been chosen as one of 16 across England to benefit from the government's further education capital transformation fund.
Apprenticeship and Skills Minister Gilliam Keegan announced on Thursday (April 8) that the windfall has been allocated to transform East Coast's Great Yarmouth campus on Suffolk Road to create a modern, multi-million pound campus.
The amount of funding East Coast College will receive is yet to be determined, but the project will involve rebuilding significant portions of the east side of the campus, replacing older buildings to create new workshops, classrooms and student social space.
Stuart Rimmer, CEO and principal, said: "We are delighted to be working directly with Department of Education (DfE) to create the most ambitious college building programme ever in the eastern region.
"It will create a stunning, modern, multimillion pound twenty-first century campus in Great Yarmouth.
"It will be designed by our staff and students and local employers to provide an exciting campus which is inclusive and accelerates learning and development of technical skills at higher levels. This is superb news for the college but also the town and region.”
The FE Capital Transformation Fund was first launched in September 2020 to rebuild and transform college estates, with an initial £200 million allocated to all colleges so they could undertake immediate remedial work to refurbish their buildings.
In January 2021, a second phase was launched where all colleges were invited to bid for additional funding to help upgrade their campuses.
In a statement issued on gov.uk, Gillian Keegan said: “It is fantastic news that we are launching the next phase of this transformation programme, working with a small number of colleges that are some of the most in need of support to upgrade and revitalise their estates.
"As we recover from the pandemic, it is vital our colleges continue to be great places to learn with excellent facilities.
"Our priority is making sure every student receives high quality education and training, no matter where they live, so they can gain the skills they need to progress into work and help the economy to rebuild and grow.”
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