£6.6m expansion approved for Burnley College

Burnley College’s university campus is to be extended with an additional three storeys after its £6.6m plans gained approval.

The new space will be built on top of the University Courses' existing footprint, which features foundations capable of adding multiple additional floors.

This greatly reduces the cost and time of this expansion, and Burnley College is hopeful the new space will open in 2024.

The extended building will offer 1,900 sq m of floor space dedicated to teaching, cutting-edge science laboratories, a dedicated employability hub, robotics and automation classrooms, a cyber security suite and a new state-of-the-art lecture theatre.

Nina Parkin, dean of BCUC, said: "To be able to offer these facilities which rival the universities in major cities around the UK right here in the heart of Burnley makes me so proud.

“We work in conjunction with local industry, identifying skills gaps and learning about developing new technologies, so we can ensure local people achieve qualifications which allow them to go into the world productively and ably stepping straight into a job alongside industry experts."

Karen Buchanan, principal of Burnley College, said: "This investment in the future of education in Burnley consolidates our position as a leading centre of learning in the North West and the UK as a whole.

“We are hugely proud of our amazing campus and committed to its continued development to offer the ultimate education and training to generations to come – at every level from A Levels, T Levels and GCSEs to Masters degrees.

"Our learners deserve the very best. We are providing them with an environment which gives them the very best qualifications to aid their journeys to the most successful careers; it inspires and motivates them to be the very best they can be and place Burnley firmly on the education map.”