Bringing Aycliffe Business Park Together | 17
A computer image of the South Durham
UTC, which is expected to open in 2016.
BUILDING OF SOUTH
DURHAM UTC EXPECTED
TO START IN AUGUST
Former Gestamp boss David Land
has been appointed to build business
engagement for the South Durham UTC.
Building of the region’s first University Technical College (UTC) here
in Newton Aycliffe is expected to start in August.
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And the South Durham UTC, an
engineering and advanced manufacturing
Centre of Excellence, has also revealed the
name of its new head teacher.
As revealed on www.aycliffetoday.co.uk in
April, planning for the £10m UTC has been
submitted to Durham County Council this
month, with building expected to start in
August.
The UTC will be built on Long Tens Way on
Aycliffe Business Park – in between Hitachi’s
new site and the Xcel Centre – and is
expected to open in September 2016.
The college will consist of a three-storey
engineering block, kitted out with general
and specialist engineering equipment such as
computer-aided design, science laboratories,
workshops and a teaching block for studying
GSCE and A’ level subjects.
There will also be 43 bicycle racks and 57
car parking spaces with provision for another
20.
Public transport options will include the
Darlington to Bishop Auckland railway line
and local bus transport.
The building’s design will reflect the
engineering focus of its curriculum, with a
triple-height specialist engineering housing
with state-of-the-art kit and able to house
large scale work or machinery.
Tom Dower, a Cambridge University
Engineering graduate with over ten years of
education leadership experience, has been
appointed as Principal Designate of the new
UTC South Durham.
He said: “I am delighted to have been
appointed Principal Designate of the UTC in
South Durham.
“It is very exciting to be working with the
University of Sunderland, Hitachi Rail Europe
and Gestamp Tallent to provide a fantastic
educational route for young people in the
North East.
“
David Land, Trustee for UTC South Durham
working in conjunction with the University
of Sunderland, said: “My role is to manage
the build and business engagement for the
project.
“We’re pleased with the work to date
and feel we’re on the right track to meet the
requirements of the manufacturing sector
not only on the Aycliffe Business Park but in
the surrounding South Durham area.
“The UTC offers a transitional facility that
will allow students to experience work-based
problem solving while completing their core
subjects.
“The next challenge will be to involve more
businesses in the project and then recruit
students to start when the doors open in
September 2016.
”
Mr Land who was engineering director
at Gestamp until recently, and in a video
interview with Aycliffe Today he told us: “The
UTC is something that, from a manufacturing
perspective, I was really keen to get engaged
with.
“We’ve had problems in the past trying
to get young people into engineering and
manufacturing-based subjects.
“It’s difficult to break the current
curriculums in standard schools, so the
UTC was the ideal opportunity where we
could put that engineering strategy into the
curriculum from day one and build that whole
ethos around it.
“So I made a commitment, when I left
Gestamp, to work the university and help
them to engage with businesses and make
sure we get that right from the beginning.
“Aycliffe Business Park is the largest
manufacturing area in the region, it’s growing
with Hitachi Rail Europe and all the other
developments.
“We’ve got some really good companies
on the business park which do some really
clever stuff, and I think that’s a great way of
encouraging young people into engineering
and manufacturing.
”
Willmott Dixon has been appointed as the
main contractor for the UTC.