Rapid progress being made on £36 million university park in Dudley

The work on Castle Hill has been gathering pace in recent weeks with work taking shape on the development of a university park.

It already includes the Black Country & Marches Institute of Technology (IoT) specialising in higher level technical education, opening in September 2021, and the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre, due to be completed in March 2022.

The next stage for the development is the planned Health Innovation Centre.

Like the IoT it will offer training opportunities for people to develop higher level skills in healthcare, helping to address the shortage of people to take up the much-needed roles in local NHS and beyond.

It will also serve as a facility to the resident community to support health and wellbeing activity. To make way for the new facility the former Dudley Hippodrome and bingo hall will be demolished.

'Major development'

Dudley Council’s cabinet is being asked to approve plans for a ‘memorandum of understanding’ which is a formal agreement between the authority and Dudley College of Technology to develop the detailed application for this next phase.

The signed document will agree the next phase of the plans to submit a bid for funding.

Councillor Ian Kettle, cabinet member for regeneration and enterprise, said: "This is a major development for the town, and I am pleased we are making rapid progress despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic.

"This memorandum of understanding between the council and the college will steer our shared vision for creating a first class educational facility on a key site in Dudley and add to a rolling programme of regeneration which is taking place in the town."

Neil Thomas, chief executive and principal of Dudley College of Technology, added: "There are a number of exciting developments planned for Dudley and we are pleased to be supporting the council to create a Health Innovation Centre as part of the university park.

"The developments on the site are game-changing for Dudley, offering local people higher level training opportunities in order to progress in successful careers linked to local employment, as well as providing a valuable community resource."