McLaughlin & Harvey has been appointed as the main contractor for a ‘game-changing’ learning quarter in Wolverhampton city centre.
The £41m major construction contract will see the creation of a new main campus for the City of Wolverhampton College within a cluster of Victorian and Edwardian buildings in the city centre.
McLaughlin & Harvey has been working with both the university and Wolverhampton City Council to develop detailed designs since signing a pre-construction agreement last year.
Work is expected to begin at the end of this year, with a target of completion in September 2025.
The work is part of the council’s City Learning Quarter programme, which has a total capital budget of £51.6m.
As well as the university campus, it will also include works on the same site to develop new facilities for Wolverhampton’s adult education service and Central Library, including restoration of the library facade and internal improvements. The contracts for the rest of the work are still in the contracting phase.
The town center scheme is part of a wider development program which includes a separate £8.1m technical center at the university’s Wellington Road campus, built under a design-build contract by Speller Metcalfe. This item is due for completion in July 2024.
The two new learning centers will be connected by bus and tram links.
The latest global program budget, including both sites, it is now £69.5m. The projects are being funded from a number of sources, including £22m from the Department for Education, £5m from the government’s Cities Fund and £20m from its Leveling Up Fund. The scheme has also received £7.75 million from the West Midlands Combined Authority.
City Council report in September observed a funding gap of £4mwhich is expected to be met through the disposal of assets by the council and the college as well as “additional government contributions and grants”.
Wolverhampton council said the term’s apprenticeship scheme would boost skills and employment among people in the city and surrounding region.
Council leader Stephen Simkins described the City Learning Quarter as a “game-changing scheme for Wolverhampton”.
He added: “Council and university representatives have done a lot of work, supported by our local MP Stuart Anderson and the West Midlands Combined Authority, to secure vital funding and get us to the point where we can make the make our vision a reality.
“The City Learning Quarter will have a visible and tangible impact on the City of Wolverhampton and its residents, making a huge difference to everyday life through direct investment in skills and education.”
McLaughlin & Harvey was ranked 25th in the most recent CN100 list of leading contractors, with a turnover of £799.6m in the year to 30 June 2022. It previously worked on other educational projects d ‘high profile, such as the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Coventry University, and the Clerici Building at Oxford Brookes University.
Shane Greer, Senior Project Manager at McLaughlin & Harvey, said: “Following the successful completion of our engagement with the council on the design and preparatory works, McLaughlin & Harvey is delighted to commence works as the contractor main in the Learning Quarter of the City of Wolverhampton for the next few years.weeks.
“The project, which is being delivered under Crown Commercial Service CWAS RM6088, will benefit the Wolverhampton area with a state-of-the-art learning facility. We will undertake initial enabling works such as utility diversions , welfare construction and accumulation facility prior to demolition and stacking from the new year.”
