Exclusive:New college 'campus plan' drawn up for Sheffield's Castlegate site
Major new education campus planned on edge of the new park in city centre
Plans are being drawn up to create a major new college campus in the heart of Sheffield, close the city’s new Castlegate park site.
Officials have confirmed that an agreement has been signed which would see a “major new education campus” created next to the park, which is due to open in two years.
Bosses at The Sheffield College have described the plans as being at a very early stage, and they are among four organisation to have signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ agreeing to move forward with the plans.
Government documents have mentioned a sixth form college and adult education.
In addition to The Sheffield College, the other signatories to the scheme are Sheffield Council, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, and the financial company Legal and General.
However, unions representing college staff say they have not been made aware of the plans and have now raised concerns.
Castlegate is currently a huge building site at the location of the former Castle Market, which is being transformed into a public open space. It will be called Castle Hill Park when it opens in summer 2028.
Sheffield Council stated: “A recent memorandum of understanding between Sheffield City Council, Legal and General, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Sheffield College strengthened the area’s future by supporting plans for a major new education campus on the edge of the new park in Castlegate.”
It has not been made clear how the new Castlegate campus would affect the current Sheffield College sites.
At present, the college’s main site is on Granville Road, just outside the city centre, on a site that is served by its own Supertram stop.
It also has a site in Hillsborough, close to the Sheffield Tigers Speedway stadium.
According to the Government, which announced in 2023 that it was putting £20million into the Castlegate project, the scheme will include an adult education centre and a sixth form college once it is developed.
Sheffield College said in a statement: "We regularly review the college estate to ensure that our campuses are sustainable and fit-for-purpose providing high quality education and training facilities for our students and staff.
“Having signed the statement of intent earlier this year to be part of the Castlegate development, we are very much in the early planning stages so wouldn't have any further details to share at this stage."
Sheffield Music Academy and Sheffield Music Hub, which has previously operated from borrowed facilities, are expected move into the Grade II listed Canada House, near to the new park. The aim is to repurpose it as a location for the two music institutions.
However few other details have emerged on the planned college plans.
But they have raised concerns among unions, with University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady describing them as coming as a surprise to staff at the college
She said: “This news has come as a surprise for staff at the Sheffield College. If such a development is being planned, UCU should be consulted and have the business case and necessity for expansion made clear.
"We wonder how such a development will be paid for without increasing any risk to the financial security of the college and how the college has money to invest in a major capital project but not staff.
“Lecturers are faced with unfair pay differentials in the college and a pay gap with teachers who work in schools doing comparative work. The college needs to invest in staff and not more shiny buildings.”
The Castle Hill Park project is currently running two years behind schedule, and is millions over its original cost. Changes to the planned park where made when new archaeological features were found, with plans to include them in the final park.
Originally due top open this year, the latest estimates, revealed this month, have estimated that it will be opening in the summer of 2028.
The South Yorkshire Mayor’s office and Legal and General were contacted for comment.