Super college plans revealed

29 Jan 2013

City of Glasgow college have unveiled plans for their two new campuses at Cathedral Street and the riverside and identified a preferred bidder for the project.

The plans for the new buildings at Cathedral Street and the riverside are designed to cater for around 40,000 students and 1200 members of staff.

Glasgow Learning Quarter (GLQ) is the preferred bidder for City of Glasgow College's two new £228 million campus developments. The Reiach and Hall and Michael Laird Architects designed campuses will be ready in three years time.

The riverside campus is in Clydewaterfront territory and Cathedral Street is nearby.

The identification of a preferred bidder is a major step forward in realising the new campus vision and the college is delighted to have reached this important decision right on schedule.

This investment is publicly and privately financed with funding support from the Scottish Government via the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and from the college's financial reserves. The European Investment Bank has in principle approved up to £100m of financing. The campuses have been designed by Reiach and Hall, and Michael Laird Architects to have student learning at their core. They represent the single largest estates investment in the college sector in Scotland and will help transform the city centre landscape for generations to come.

Construction is planned to start later this year and will act as an enormous boost to local small and medium enterprises working within the building sector and related supply chains thanks to the preferred bidder's commitment to supporting local employment and training."

The next and final stage of the procurement phase will include seeking planning permission from Glasgow City Council and finalising the funding strategy. Once these tasks are complete, the contract will be awarded and construction will begin on site this summer.

The project will be funded through the SFC and be supported by the SFT using the new NPD procurement model, which is a form of public private partnership.

Source: City of Glasgow College