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Designed by Associated Architects, the 4,500 sqm extension comprises a three-storey teaching building and a separate sports hall, with reconfigured playground and games area. The design is intended to be sympathetic to the local conservation area and features a profiled metal cladding system with a sawtooth pitched roof.
Construction work has begun and is expected to complete in August 2022. Consultants on the scheme include structural engineer Copeland Wedge Associates and building services consultant Couch Perry Wilkes.
Morgan Sindall was awarded the contract by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Thomas Telford Multi-Academy Trust, which operates the UTC. Funding for the UTC is from the DfE with a contribution from the City of Wolverhampton Council.
The expanded UTC is based at the University of Wolverhampton’s Springfield site, said to be Europe’s largest construction education campus. It is to be built alongside the institution’s School of Architecture & the Built Environment (SOABE), and the new National Brownfield Institute, which is currently being developed.
Morgan Sindall’s extension will enable the school to increase its intake from 600 pupils to 1,050 (aged 11-18) and facilitate the delivery of a full secondary academic syllabus. The school will offer the new T-level qualification in design, surveying and planning for construction, which launches this September, the development of which also had Morgan Sindall involvement.
Richard Fielding, area director for Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “The ongoing renaissance of the Springfield site is a perfect example of education-led regeneration. The campus is quickly becoming a national centre of excellence for the built environment and is the ideal setting for the new construction T-level to be taught from.
“Expanding the facilities to deliver a wider syllabus will enable pupils to consider the school and the rewarding career pathways that vocational training can unlock from an earlier age. It has been the poor relation of university education for too long, but holds the key to addressing skills shortages in multiple industries, not least construction, while providing rewarding, skilled careers for the next generation.”
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