Civic Centre plan gets wholehearted support

College wants to create a nationally recognised blue and green skills hub

Plymouth City College’s involvement in the regeneration of the iconic Civic Centre has been described as a “gamechanger”.

The college is planning a campus for blue (marine) and green skills training on the lower floors of the 1960s’ modernist building, which, at 14 floors high, towers over the city.

The city council’s cabinet gave its full support for the authority to enter into a lease with the college and to use £8.5 million of Levelling Up funding to start work converting the building.

Upper storeys will provide more than 100 homes for sale or rent, but which won’t be student accommodation .

The council moved out of its former “leaky and cold” office building 10 years ago and sold it to Manchester-based developer Urban Splash for £1, but work never began  because of claims about the complexities of the renovation. Cabinet members agreed this week to buy back the building for the same price.

The partnership with city college came after an 18-month search by the Devonport-based education provider to find a city centre premises.

College chief executive and principal Jackie Grubb said the new campus would be “cutting edge” and “nationally recognised” as a blue and green skills hub that would change lives, and give local residents the chance to attain higher level skills and better paid jobs.

Sixty courses will span subjects such as engineering, maritime, construction, off shore wind, electric vehicles and digital technologies, amongst others.

Chair of governors Richard Stevens said: “We are investing in our own, putting Plymouth people first. The city’s underutilised workforce is one of biggest assets.

“We will be able to look children in the eye in years seven, eight and nine and say we have great opportunities for you in the heart of the city and really mean it and it’s not just for young people, adult learners will be able to learn at time that suits them.”

Cllr Sally Cresswell (Lab, Stoke) said 8,000 jobs would be created in Plymouth by 2030 through organisations such as Babcock, Oceansgate and the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport, and they would need people with the right qualifications,

“This is the most significant skills intervention in a decade. It will be national centre of excellence for blue and green skills … a trailblazer.”

Deputy council leader Jemima Laing (Lab, Stoke) said the Civic Centre, opened by the late queen in 1962, was a big topic of conversation in the community: “People want to know what is going to happen with that building.

“It is so iconic and so important to Plymouth’s past and it will be an incredible part of Plymouth’s future. I can’t wait to see that building come alive again.”

Scaffolding will go up in the next few weeks and the first stage of the renovation will include concrete repairs and the demolition of the 1970s’ extension.

The second stage will be to remove existing cladding, install new cladding, roof repairs, fire protection, and services along with work in surrounding public spaces, which will allow the college to use the lower floors and move in during 2026.

Fitting out upper floors will follow.

City centre champion and cabinet member for finance Cllr Mark Lowry said they will hit the ground running and the project will “kick start”the regeneration of Armada Way.

The Future High Streets Fund hsa provided £10.5 million which Cllr Lowry says essentially makes it a public sector funded building which would bring in income.

“It’s quite important that the council steps in and any benefit goes to the taxpayer because ultimately they are paying for it,” he said.

He added that renovation costs had rocketed from £35 million to £51 million in three years, putting it out of the scope of private developers.

“It would not have been commercially viable for a private company. The college’s involvement has been a gamechanger for this project.”