Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2017-03-17
Buyer: New College Nottingham
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 71315200 | 71530000: Construction consultancy services | 72224000: Project management consultancy services

Technical requirements: Nottingham Skills Hub is a joint project created through the collaboration of New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham, currently the 2 colleges are undertaking a merger and from 1.8.2016 will become Nottingham College.
To date a significant amount of thinking required to produce a holistic vision and delivery strategy for Nottingham Further education (FE) has been completed over previous years and a critical component of this being the development of the proposed Skills Hub. It has been the long standing aim of both Colleges to reduce the number of operational sites and consolidate in the centre of Nottingham. Learner travel patterns indicate that the city centre is the most favourable location both in terms of ease of transport and a desire from young people and adults to study in the heart of Nottingham. The Nottingham Skills Hub development achieves this.
The proposed curriculum vision has been based on a single college corporation occupying a city centre Skills Hub offering significant educational and skills benefits, improved efficiency and effectiveness, creating a sustainable estate that evidences commitment to Nottingham's major employment and growth markets. This maximises access to both specialist and community provision across the conurbation allowing a focus of all efforts on further improving teaching and learning and student outcomes in a consistent and manageable way for Nottingham and meeting the needs of the local economy.
A number of curriculum decisions and their locations have been assumed to date, but these will need to be further considered as part of the stage 2 business case development that needs to be submitted to the LEP with a view to determining the final most efficient estate. To date it has been assumed that the single college will have 5 core sites, the Skills Hub being a critical site in this vision.
The Colleges have been working together in order to determine curriculum, timetabling and delivery plans, however this is yet to be finalised and the completion of this work is critical. The new campus will not only replace outdated teaching and learning facilities at both colleges but will enable the FE partners to respond directly to the needs of local employers by supplying the skills required for Nottingham's key employment and growth sectors. The Hub will provide an environment to promote and develop entrepreneurial behaviours, career aspirations and transparent progression pathways into employment within fit for purpose facilities that are of industry standard.
The Skills Hub is fully supported by the D2N2 Learning and Enterprise partnership (LEP) and Nottingham City Council (NCC). The project will be part funded by the LEP and NCC. The financing of the remainder of the development costs will be generated from college estate rationalisation and potentially through preferential borrowing. At all stages of the project the consultants are to be cognisant of the conditions of funding grant and the requirements for the design to meet all the colleges' curriculum qualification requirements.