Planning permission is being sought by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust to develop a new Learning Campus in Grove Lane, Smethwick to train local residents and future health care professionals.
If approved, the new facility will be built at the gateway to the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital.
The Learning Campus will provide learning programmes for local residents to help them develop their skills and to support them into employment. Much of the training will focus on health care and health care-related roles ranging from entry level all the way up level 7 skills. Courses will range from short term interventions to longer term qualifications. These will range from administrative, cleaning and catering support, to allied health professionals such as occupational health and physiotherapy and pharmacy support, to nursing and midwifery qualifications.
The building and development of the Learning Campus will be led by the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust in collaboration with Sandwell College, University of Wolverhampton and Aston University with support from Sandwell Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority. This is a Towns Fund project which will provide training and development opportunities for local residents and support them into employment.
The state-of-the-art learning resource will provide the facilities and opportunities for Sandwell residents to aspire to higher skill levels and better incomes. The project will bring together multiple facilities with various partners providing a single centre for the community to promote access to training, development and employment opportunities in the healthcare sector.
Health and regeneration chiefs are expecting the new facility will deliver:
- 100 temporary full time equivalent jobs supported during project delivery;
- 30 full time equivalent permanent jobs created through the project;
- 1,280 learners assisted;
- closer collaboration with 15 employers.
One of the ambitions of the project subject to funding is to deliver a net zero carbon building and this is an integral part of the design which has been submitted for planning permission. The project is also seeking to promote active travel measures to ensure that students and staff can access the facilities in the most sustainable way which will support their health and wellbeing as well as that of the surrounding community.
The proposed project is one of 16 in the Towns Fund Programme with Sandwell Council already securing £67.5 million for investments in West Bromwich, Smethwick and Rowley Regis.
Residents can view the planning application and submit comments on the portal via this link Midland Met Learning Campus planning
application by Thursday 15 June.
If approved, works will start at the end of 2023, with a proposed completion date at the end of 2024.
