New City Learning Quarter training facility shortlisted for regional award
Released: 08 April 2025
A state-of-the-art training facility built as the first phase of Wolverhampton Council’s City Learning Quarter masterplan has been shortlisted in the 2025 West Midlands Constructing Excellence Awards.
The £8.1million Advanced Technology and Automotive Centre (ATAC) at City of Wolverhampton College’s Wellington Road campus in Bilston is in the running for the Building Project of the Year honour.
Winners will be announced at an awards dinner on Thursday, May 1, at Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
ATAC opened to students in September following an 11-month build by contractor Speller Metcalfe.
It will secure hundreds of jobs in the local economy and create learning opportunities for thousands of students – specialising in engineering and automotive, including electric vehicles (EV).
Only last month, luxury car manufacturer, Bentley, enrolled 18 of its manufacturing technicians on electrical apprenticeships at the centre.
Construction of ATAC was funded by £7.7 million from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), with the remainder from the Black Country LEP.
It has been designed for engineering and automotive studies - with facilities for new electric, hybrid and traditional vehicles, as well fabrication, manufacturing, welding, CAD and robotics.
The centre is delivering a multi-skilled flexible workforce addressing skills shortages in the city. Almost 5,500 learners and 954 apprenticeships are forecast over the first ten years of the centre.
Phase two of the City Learning Quarter masterplan is in progress with McLaughlin & Harvey constructing a city centre campus that will pave the way for the college to move from its Paget Road site, while Speller Metcalfe is delivering transformational works on the neighbouring Adult Education Wolverhampton and Central Library facilities.
The courses the purpose-built Bilston centre host are not suitable for the city centre location.
City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Development, Jobs and Skills, Councillor Chris Burden, said: “The Advanced Technology and Automotive Centre is a fantastic new facility and to be shortlisted for this award is testament to that.
“It was built on time and on budget and is already delivering positive outcomes in terms of our education and skills offer in Wolverhampton.
“Advanced technology and automotive is a rapidly growing economic sector, creating learning and jobs opportunities for people of all ages in our city and beyond.
“It aligns with Wolverhampton’s strong credentials as a front runner in green industries, which will be further supported by the development of our Green Innovation Corridor as one of the three pillars in the West Midlands Investment Zone.”
Peter Merry, Deputy Principal and Chief Executive of the College, said: "The Advanced Technology and Automotive Centre was designed with the requirement of students, apprentices, employers and the wider engineering and automotive sectors at its heart and enabled courses to be transferred from our Paget Road campus for the start of the academic year in September 2024.
"Students are benefitting from learning in purpose-built premises with industry-standard equipment and facilities and, with so much construction taking place across the region, we are delighted that it has been shortlisted for the Building Project of the Year Award."