Blackburn to get new UCLAN town centre learning hub

The exciting plans will see a new 'visually impressive' bespoke learning hub for almost 3,000 students built in the town centre.

Until now, proposals for the scheme next to the former Thwaites Brewery site have referred to working with "a leading North-West university and other education and training providers".

Now papers for Blackburn with Darwen Council's executive board reveal the partner in the new campus will be UCLan, and its Blackburn-based subsidiary Training 2000.

More details are also given on the project which is a key component of the authority's Business Innovation District for the town, which it estimates could contribute £1billion of new economic activity to the borough over the next decade.

Training 2000's current location

The UCLan plans include constructing a modern purpose-built training hub with around 87,000 square feet of space for up to 2,800 students.

The new skills campus, largely financed from government Levelling Up fund grants, is also an important part of the council's Blackburn Town Centre Masterplan, which was rocked last month when Morrisons pulled out of plans to build a new store on the brewery site in favour of upgrading its existing premises in Railway Road.

Plans for the new learning hub are expected to be submitted in June with construction starting in Summer 2025 and students arriving in Autumn 2027, if approved.

A report to Thursday's executive board meeting by council growth boss Cllr Quesir Mahmood says: "The council has been working closely with UCLan and Training 2000 over the past 12 months to develop plans for Phase 1 of the new campus and to establish a new national training centre for Training 2000, a wholly-owned but independently-run national provider of employer-demand training programmes.

Blackburn's town centre masterplan

"Training 2000 has many national customers, including some of the country’s leading businesses with the likes of BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Royal Mail and Chubb.

"Blackburn has one of the youngest populations in England which makes the area very attractive to both businesses and training providers.

"Moreover, Blackburn has been, for a number of years, one of the most significant catchment areas in the UK for UCLan’s undergraduate population.

"The proposed new building for Training 2000 and at the heart of the Phase 1 masterplan would be a modern purpose-built facility of around 87,000 sq.ft. of high-quality inspirational learning space.

"The investment will relocate, expand, and enhance Training 2000’s facilities which have developed organically over the past 30 years in unassuming industrial estate-style buildings on Furthergate Business Park.

"This new town centre facility will help enable Training 2000 to fulfil its own growth plans by responding to the demands of national employers to deliver high-quality training opportunities which are centrally located and highly accessible for nearly 2,800 industry-based learners by 2030 – nearly a three-fold increase in the number of current annual learners.

"The visually impressive and inspirational campus buildings and nearly two acres of uplifting public realm and greenspace in a new urban park will catalyse the follow-on phases of the new Town Centre Masterplan.

"The campus will significantly boost regular town centre footfall, directly and indirectly supporting new town centre employment across the commercial, leisure and retail sectors.

"It will deliver a visually impressive asset of scale right at the heart of the urban core that will contribute to the renewal and transformation of Blackburn town centre as a culturally vibrant, dynamic, low carbon innovation hub, and a place local people are proud of.

"Our Business Innovation District will also help to cement plans for the adjoining developments including the re-development of the former St John’s Church and Making Rooms, as a new Tech Innovation Quarter.

"The new Blackburn Business Innovation District Phase 1 is a core element of the emerging Blackburn Growth Axis, which links Blackburn with the adjacent Samlesbury Enterprise Zone (the home of BAE Systems) the new National Cyber Security HQ and the nationally renowned AMRC’s innovation centre, creating the opportunity to establish 100,000 jobs in the area, one of the most important economic centres in the North of England."

The executive board meeting is asked to authorise the spending of £750,000 on preparations for the scheme to be spent by Maple Grove Blackburn Ltd, the council's joint development venture with the Eric Wright Group.