The College Quarter

Project 1 – The relocation of Tamworth College to a new building on the site of the former Tamworth Co-operative Society department store.

This involves the relocation of Tamworth College, part of South Staffordshire College, to a new building on the site of the Tamworth Co-operative Society department store.

Such a move would bring around 1500 students, staff and visitors into the town centre, both in the daytime and for evening courses. It would also allow for the provision of additional courses to address local skills needs and has the potential for ground floor space to be used commercially for service-based education in areas such as food and drink and hair and beauty.

The locally-listed part of the department store, fronting on to Colehill, would be protected and turned into new, affordable office space.

Claire Boliver, Chief Executive Principal from South Staffordshire College, said: “We are delighted to partner with Tamworth Borough Council to support the project and share their ambition to bring a brand new state-of-the-art ‘Tamworth College’ right into the heart of the community.

“Our ambition to bring Further Education into the town centre would bring economic and social benefits to the community as well as an exceptional learning environment for the development of the workforce of the future. The central location would make the college’s high-quality courses and apprenticeships even more accessible to people from across the region.

“Our focus is on ‘careers not courses’ which means we don’t just teach courses - we help local people get the skills required by local employers. With the new proposed location, our ambition is to help more businesses to fill their skills gaps, and get more local people into their dream careers, whatever their starting point.”

The locally-listed part of the department store, fronting onto Colehill, would be protected and turned into new affordable office space.