College to be radically rebuilt

Motor maintenance students Zoe White and Gary Glymond have performed the turf-cutting ceremony and contractors move in today to build the new motor vehicle workshop, off Old Mill Lane, and a sports centre at Honeywell.

As part of the radical scheme, the College's Old Mill Lane site is to be demolished to be replaced with a seven-storey building.

That will include a restaurant, beauty salon and theatre, which will be run like a business, staffed by students and open to the public.

The first new buildings should be completed by June next year. The Old Mill Lane building will be vacated by September next year and facilities moved to the nearby B-Block.

Once the new Old Mill Lane building opens, in September 2010, B-Block will be demolished and a car park created in its place.

College principal Paula Whittle said the start of work on the first new buildings was an important day for the college.

She said: "The motor vehicle workshop development is going to give us specialist facilities, including equipment for motorbikes. The sports hall will also be a stunning facility."

Chair of governors Pauline Acklam told The Star the development is the biggest and most exciting she has seen in her years of involvement at the college.

"The whole point is to try to get Barnsley College, as much as possible, onto one site," she said.

ROAD crash survivor talked about his personal experience to 170 students in Barnsley, in a hard-hitting presentation aimed at encouraging safer driving.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue joined forces with Barnsley College, South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Ambulance Service to produce the Road Traffic Collision (RTC) Roadshow, held at Barnsley College.