Work has completed on a pivotal new centre for Students with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities (The Gateway) at Nottingham College’s Basford campus.
The Gateway is a new two-storey building providing bespoke facilities for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (SLDD). Opening to students in February 2025, it comprises 13 classrooms, a teaching kitchen, dining area and ancillary spaces across a gross internal floor area of 1,350m², as well as associated external works to the grounds.
A major build for the Nottingham College portfolio, The Gateway was procured via Pagabo’s Medium Works Framework and is one of two major new additions to the college’s Basford campus that G F Tomlinson has worked on this year.
The contractor completed the Construction Skills Centre (CSC) in November – a new build specialist facility offering flexible teaching and learning spaces to help meet the growing need for training for construction skilled trades in the local area.
Both buildings are designed to align with the Department for Education’s (DfE) output specification and support the sustainability ambitions of Nottingham College, working towards becoming carbon zero by 2030.
G F Tomlinson provided £2.1m of Social Value-Added opportunities for the local community. This included organised site visits, regular newsletters and career talks with students from the college. 791 local student engagements, 187.5 hours of work experience placements and 48 apprentice weeks equating to 1,804 apprentice hours were provided.
The scheme incorporates several sustainability elements such as the installation of 106 PV panels, four air source heat pumps and high spec insulation meaning the new building needs much less energy to heat, and water wastage will be reduced due to state-of-the-art tap and plumbing solutions.
During the project, 774 miles were driven using low-emission vehicles and 79% local labour and 76% local spend was achieved within 20 miles of site. 1.5 tonnes of waste materials were rescued from the waste stream and 100% of site waste was recycled, aligning with the target of offsetting carbon during the project, in line with the Government’s Net Zero agenda.
