Pictured above: (l-r) Howard Saycell and Norman Cave from Bournville College, Peter Millett from Shepherd Construction and John Dodds from St. Modwen

Construction of the brand new £66 million Bournville College at Longbridge has reached an important milestone, with regeneration specialist St. Modwen, Shepherd Construction and the College celebrating the topping out of the development.

Marking the completion of the six-storey structural frame, the new College is scheduled to be completed by September 2011, in time for a new intake of students.

When completed, the 4.2 acre campus site - which is prominently located on the junction of the A38 Bristol Road South and Longbridge Lane - will consolidate Bournville's three existing campuses, with capacity for over 15,000 students. The purpose-built 250,000 sq ft main building will house state-of-the-art education facilities including a learning resource centre, business school, construction workshop and leisure and sport facilities.

Bill Oliver, chief executive of St. Modwen, said: "The topping out of a development marks a great milestone and is always cause for celebration, especially with a project as important to the local area as this. The striking design of the building is already evident to see and it will form a landmark in the proposed new Longbridge town centre for which we have recently submitted a planning application. The construction programme has kept on track, despite the weather setbacks at the end of 2010, which is testament to the hard work and dedication of all involved."

The College represents the first phase of the redevelopment of the former MG Rover plant at Longbridge and has been designed by the Birmingham office of internationally-acclaimed architects Broadway Malyan. The campus has been designed to achieve a BREEAM rating of 'Excellent'.

Peter Millett, regional managing director for Shepherd Construction said: "To be constructing an educational facility that will be such an asset to the community is a great honour, particularly as the new Bournville College will create further jobs and opportunities for local people. This is what regeneration is all about and we are very proud to be working with St. Modwen, Bournville College, Broadway Malyan and the wider project team on this landmark development." 

Shepherd Construction is working to ensure that the build process remains as environmentally friendly as possible, with an average 97.7 per cent of waste generated from the project - including hardcore, wood, soil, flock, plastic, plasterboard and scrap - diverted away from landfill to be recycled.

Norman Cave, principal at Bournville College, said: "Broadway Malyan designed a fantastic campus for us and I hope it will open a new chapter in the development of new teaching environments. As well as being a catalyst in the redevelopment and regeneration of Longbridge, our new college will be one of the most modern and contemporary further education facilities in Europe and will bring long-lasting benefits directly to the region. We are all excited about the completion of the campus later this year."

Longbridge is a £1 billion project spanning 468 acres by St. Modwen and joint landowner Advantage West Midlands. Over the next 15 years, the scheme is expected to create up to 10,000 new jobs and 2,000 new homes. An exemplar of sustainability, there will also be improved transport, alongside new community facilities and public space.

Shepherd Construction was appointed to build the new College in 2009, via the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) procurement process. The projected 88 week build period commenced in November 2009. 

Faithful & Gould is the project manager and cost consultant for Bournville College, Gifford is the consulting engineer responsible for the civil, structural, mechanical and electrical design of the building.