Campus plans hit as costs rocket

Ambitious plans for a new college campus have gone back to the drawing board after construction costs soared. Leeds City College has already won approval for its Quarry Hill masterplan.

AMBITIOUS PLANS for a new college campus on a flagship regeneration site have gone back to the drawing board after the construction costs went over budget.

Leeds City College has already won approval for its Quarry Hill masterplan, and the new further education hub will sit opposite the city’s Victoria Gate retail development and next to West Yorkshire Playhouse.

It will also be located alongside a wider £150m scheme for the Quarry Hill site, which is being billed as a growing cultural and educational quarter for the city.

However, plans chiefs have now been told that a tender for the approved campus project – part-funded by the Leeds City Region LEP (local enterprise partnership) – has come in over the maximum budget, forcing a scaling-down of the scheme.

It also means the campus will open a year later than scheduled, in September 2019 rather than next year.

Phil Brock, from planning consultant WYG, told Leeds Council’s City Plans Panel: “The full construction package has been out to tender. Unfortunately those tender prices were over budget. It’s a fixed budget that’s largely being funded by the Local Enterprise Partnership.

“But the college remains committed to delivering a landmark building and maintaining the high-quality design principles that have already been established.”

He added: “There has been a lot of work over the last few months which has delayed the construction start. But we are now in a position that we can maintain the integrity of the scheme – but within the budget [and] there will be the need for some changes.”

The Quarry Hill project – a “long-term aspiration” of the college – will be its second new campus in Leeds city centre after the Printworks site on Hunslet Road.

Mr Brock admitted that there had been additional “pressure” due to the “tight” timings the team had been working to. The Leeds Civic Hall meeting was told that the scheme will be built in two phases.

Questions were raised by the panel about funding for the second phase, with one councillor asking: “If you haven’t got the funding for Phase One, what guarantees do you have for Phase Two?”

College spokeswoman Louise Child responded: “Phase Two is an aspiration, and we have already started the process of seeking funding for that. But we are also very mindful that we have developed the scheme at Phase One to work as a standalone should the funding be delayed in being secured.”

The meeting was told the “most significant change in terms of bringing the cost in line with the budget” is a reduction in the “sheer volume”, as well as the tallest building being brought down two floors from 11 storeys. The curved design and “stepped-up” heights of the main trio of buildings will stay.

There was a mixed response from the panel to the amended designs. But Coun Neil Walshaw pointed out the key issue was that it was “an excellent new campus to provide great opportunities for kids aged 16 to 19”.

“It’s clear that it passes that test,” he said. “The LEP has other issues with its budget, so they [the college] are having to come back and cut their cloth accordingly. I don’t think we can criticise them for that.”

After the meeting, Jane Pither, deputy principal at Leeds City College, said: “The revised plans for the Quarry Hill Campus will have minimal impact on the provision and space dedicated for teaching and state-of-the-art facilities.”

The college is committed to delivering a landmark building. Phil Brock, planning consultant for Leeds City College.