After much anticipation, the Black Country & Marches Institute of Technology (IoT) in Dudley has reached completion, with doors now open to its first cohort of students.
Built on behalf of Dudley College of Technology, the £23 million scheme was developed as part of the government’s £170 million drive to deliver a range of technology institutes across the UK, with £17.36m of funding secured for the institute through the Department for Education programme and a further £2m from the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Fulcro is very proud to have been involved with this project which is only the third delivered under the innovative Integrated Project Insurance (IPI) model, as part of the government’s trial strategy for delivering new models of construction procurement – with the first, Advance II, also delivered on behalf of the College in 2017. The Alliance is made up of IPInitiatives, Speller Metcalfe, Derry Building Services, GCA Consulting, Cundall, Cullinan Studio and Fulcro, many of whom have successfully worked on Advance II and more recently the Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill.
Working under this delivery model rather than as individual entities, and supported by a unique project insurance, the team have demonstrated overwhelmingly the benefits of reducing project risk, increasing profit, creating a ‘no blame, no claim’ culture and freedom for decisions to be made on a best for project basis, rather than best for the individuals involved.
An example of the flexibility employed on the scheme was the highly sustainable, low carbon approach that focused on achieving the ‘best of’ sustainable design, by incorporating elements from a range of accreditations such as BREEAM and Passivhaus, which were specifically designed to suit the project rather than the project attempting to fit each standard. The scheme has also targeted a 20% reduction in carbon emissions in comparison to its IPI predecessor, Advance II.
As a result of the team’s collaborative approach, the Institute of Technology has just won the award for Integration & Collaborative Working at the West Midlands Constructing Excellence awards. In the images above, you can see the Alliance Team members, plus Fulcro's Jonathan Mason and Luke Tabb proudly collecting the award and looking very dapper in their dinner suits!
The institute will offer a course programme which focuses on non-additional progression routes up to and including degree level programmes across medical engineering and healthcare, advanced engineering and manufacturing, and modern methods of construction.
Georgina Barnard, managing director of the Black Country and Marches Institute of Technology said: “Developing a technically skilled workforce and providing an even wider range of career pathways for the people of Dudley is what this Institute is all about. One of the great strengths of the IoT is the degree of collaboration involved. The IoT is bringing together the further and higher education sectors, alongside local employers to shape and design the delivery of courses, in this way we will make sure we provide training that responds to the region’s STEM skills gap.”
The official opening for the college is set to take place this autumn, with more than 2000 learners set to be taught at the institute by 2025.