A new Nottingham College facility for more than 130 pupils is being planned. Nottingham College has submitted proposals to build a two-storey specialist Centre for Employment and Independent Living at its Basford campus, with it expected to provide 136 students for the 2024/25 academic year.
The new building would support the needs of Students with Learning Difficulties or Disabilities (SLDD) as part of a relocation from the existing Arthur Mee Centre. The new building would include flexible teaching rooms, computer suites, an art/multi purpose space, a teaching kitchen providing cooking skills, and a sensory room.
Planning documents show an external social and garden area are planned, as well as drop off facilities for taxis and minibuses. Due to their needs, a majority of the new centre’s students would be dropped off by private car, taxi or minibus.
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The college hopes this would address the "significant issues" with the condition of the existing Arthur Mee building while reducing operational costs. Staff from the existing Arthur Mee campus would be relocated, with 20 full time and 10 part time employees expected to make the move.
Although this application only covers the proposed new Centre for Employment and Independent Living, as part of the wider masterplan, it is envisaged it could also be joined by a new Construction Skills Centre. Carl Ara, who is Nottingham College's head of centre for Basford and oversees the college’s SLDD provision, said: “The new centre offers a brand new, purpose-built facility for students with learning disabilities and/or difficulties (SLDD) and is made possible thanks to a Government grant of £4m from the FE Capital Transformation Fund and a college investment of over £1m.
"The centre will unite provision which is currently delivered across two campuses and importantly will enable us to better integrate this specialist SLDD provision with the vast vocational provision we already have on offer at our Basford campus.
"The centre will provide the chance for our construction students at our Basford campus to have a real-life construction project on their doorstep to learn from. For our SLDD learners, we will involve them in the planning and design process for the building, ensuring it best reflects their needs and aspirations.
"For the college, consolidating our SLDD provision in one purpose-built, modern and efficient building moves us closer to our sustainability target of becoming a net zero organisation for carbon emissions within a decade.”
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