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THE clank of colliery life has been replaced by the pounding of computer keyboards in a Yorkshire town.
Wakefield College is planning a centre of academic excellence on the site of a former colliery in Glasshoughton, West Yorkshire. The college is working with regeneration specialist Waystone to build a new campus, known as the Skills Xchange.

Property adviser GVA Grimley will manage and monitor the building programme, with work due to start on site this month.

Based at Junction 32 of the M62 between Castleford and Pontefract, the site is on a £200m, 335-acre mixed-use business park developed by Waystone with help from Yorkshire Forward, Wakefield Council, English Partnerships and the European Community.

Wakefield college principal, Heather MacDonald, said: "The Skills Xchange will help us fulfil our ambitions to provide cutting edge training facilities, for both individuals and businesses, to meet the skills challenges of the 21st century.

"The new building will open its doors to students in January 2009 and will house the courses which are currently offered at the college's Whitwood Campus, including hair and beauty therapy, construction, motor vehicle and engineering.

"This will be a facility of which our region can be proud. It will serve learners right across the district and beyond, and be an integral part of the educational regeneration of the Wakefield district, in which the college has a key role to play."

John Keyes, partner of GVA Grimley's Strategic Property Consultancy team, said: "This is another exciting chapter in the development of Glasshoughton and will breathe new life into this substantial site, which covers approximately nine acres.

"The planning application was approved without any significant problems and the college is set to become a striking and prominent building that will sit comfortably alongside the Xscape ski slope and the other iconic properties that occupy the site. Work is due to start in May and should be finished during October 2008."

Plans are also underway for a second college development, in the middle of Wakefield.

Consultations are taking place to find the best site for this project. GVA Grimley also advised the college on the sale of its Whitwood site, which will close when the Xchange project opens.

GVA Grimley is one of the UK's leading firms of property advisers, operating from 12 offices with 846 fee earners generating turnover of £114m.

Yorkshire Post - 10 May 2007