Daily News
College development scores starting line-up
Construction works for the Goals Football Development at City of Sunderland College will commence on Monday 2 August.
With the specialist construction team from Vinci Construction UK arriving to start work at the College’s Bede Centre, students and staff will be given an early Christmas present with completion expected on Friday 24 December 2010.
Estates Manager, Karen Wade, said: “It’s great news for our students, staff and our surrounding communities that work is starting on the new sports centre.
“A large level of planning and preparation work has been undertaken to ensure this project runs as smoothly as possible. The new centre is making use of previously under-utilised land at our Sixth Form on Durham Road and will offer a multi-sport facility.”
Earlier this year, City of Sunderland College and Goals Soccer Centres Plc announced that they had teamed-up to develop new sporting facilities. Together, they netted planning approval for a £2.5 million football centre, complete with ten all-weather pitches and a sports pavilion.
Principal, Angela O’Donoghue believes that colleges must continue to enhance their offering to students which can be found through Public-Private sector partnering, in response to the nation-wide government cut-back on funding.
She said: “We are in the midst of tough times for public sector spending, compounded for the education sector by the Chancellor’s announcement to completely overhaul capital investment in Education – including the cancellation of the LSC Further Education Capital Programme.
“That said, we have a duty to our students to continue to develop first-class facilities. The College embraces a forward-thinking strategic structure and by working with Goals, we have found an innovative solution to capital funding and development, ensuring that we continue to improve our facilities in the heart of Wearside.”
At present, there are more than 400 sports students enrolled at the College who will benefit from the new facilities which are part of a site-wide development strategy. The centre will also be used by the College’s Football Development Centre, who are the current North East Colleges cup winners and also won the regional league this year.
Providing crucial sporting facilities for students, local schoolchildren and the wider community, the scheme has been heralded by Sunderland City Council as a welcomed addition to its own City-wide Football Strategy.