Blackburn College is a

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and higher education college in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, North West England.

History

Blackburn College started as Blackburn Technical College, which was established in 1888 by public subscription. The foundation stone was officially laid by the Prince (later Edward VII) and Princess of Wales. It originally specialised in engineering and textiles, later introducing

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

courses, such as A–levels in 1984.

Locations

The main campus is located close to Blackburn Town Centre, and consists of several buildings.

Development

In the 2000s, four phases of construction were announced, as the college aimed to modernise its campus, and increase the range of degrees offered. The first was ''St Paul's Centre'', with IT and sixth form facilities, which was completed in 2007 at a cost of £8.8 million, and was opened in September 2007 by the Archbishop of York

John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Baron Sentamu, (; ; born 10 June 1949) is a retired Anglican bishop and life peer. He was Archbishop of York and Primate of England from 2005 to 2020. In retirement he was subject to investigation over his handl ...

. Construction of this building began in July 2006. ''Phase 2'', the ''University Centre'', was completed in 2009, costing £14 million, and was opened in September 2009, by Labour MP

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...

and then

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

manager

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

. ''Phase 3'' of the re development is the largest building in the entire programme, the £18.3 million ''Beacon Centre'', opposite the ''Construction Centre'' on St. Paul's Street, which was completed in the end of 2011, and was opened in February 2012, by chair of governors Sir Bill Taylor and ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' finalist

Amelia Lily Amelia Lily Oliver (born 16 October 1994) is an English singer and television personality. In 2011, she became a contestant on the eighth series of ''The X Factor'', where she finished in third place. In 2017, she finished as runner-up on the ...

. It includes teaching spaces, for art and photography studios and IT suites, as well as a male and female multi faith prayer room. In July 2012, demolition of the 1960s Feilden Street building, which housed the colleges ''Sixth Form'' until the ''St Paul's Centre'' in 2007, began (with a little help from Vice Chair and ex Borough Council Chief Executive Phil Watson and

Mark Felix Mark Felix (born 17 April 1966) is a Grenadian-English retired strongman competitor. He has competed at a record 18 World's Strongest Man contests, reaching the finals three times. He is the winner of the 2015 Ultimate Strongman Masters World C ...

), making room for ''Phase 4'', as well as ''Phase 5''. In September 2013, ''Phase 4'' of the re development, the ''STEM(MM)'' ''(Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (Media and Music))'' building opened, the ''Sir Bill Taylor Futures Centre'', named after the long serving governor and chair, and is placed next to the ''University Centre''. In September 2014, the college's new ''Regional Automotive Hub'' opened, and was officially opened in August 2014 by Phil Watson accompanied by

Carl Fogarty Carl George Fogarty (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful Superbike World Championship, World Superbike racers of all time. He also holds the third highest number of rac ...

, and has had developed input by representatives from both

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

and

Škoda Škoda means "pity" in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to: Czech brands and enterprises * Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav ** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto responsi ...

. The ''Regional Automotive Hub'' is ''Phase 5'' of the colleges re development, and possibly one of the last buildings to be built, along with a new leisure centre, which was opened in March 2015 by College Chair Sir Bill Taylor and Council Leader Cllr Kate Hollern with guest

Rebecca Adlington Rebecca Adlington (born 17 February 1989) is an English former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle events in international competition. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metr ...

. Construction began in November 2013, and was completed in August 2014. It was originally set to open in September 2014, a month after the opening of the ''Regional Automotive Hub''. It is called ''Blackburn Sports & Leisure Centre'', and includes a six lane pool, learner pool, two sports halls, gym, aerobics studio, wet/dry changing facilities, as well as a new coach drop off point. It replaces the 1980s ''Waves Water Fun Centre'', opened by Council Recreation Chair Cllr Bill Taylor, which closed in February 2015, and was demolished during March 2016.

Reports

In January 2008, the college was rated as ''outstanding'' in an

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

report, which took place in November 2007. In September 2008, it was one of five colleges in the North West to be awarded Beacon status by the Quality Improvement Agency. The college currently has a status of ''Good'' with Ofsted after being inspected i
January 2022

References

External links