Work on the only Higher Education institution in Derbyshire – part-financed by £3.48million from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) – is due to be completed on time and ready for its opening in October of this year (2016).
Based on the site of the former St. Helena’s Grammar School (pictured), in Chesterfield, the University of Derby’s Chesterfield Campus will offer higher skills to its learners, including Adult Nursing and Mentoring in Practice, Foundation Degree Information Technology and Professional Engineering. The new campus will be run by the University of Derby and is being part-funded by a Local Growth Fund (LGF) grant from the D2N2 LEP.
D2N2 is the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and works with skills and training providers, local authorities, businesses and community and voluntary organisations to grow its areas economy, with the aim of creating 55,000 new jobs in ten years (2013-2023). As part of this, it has been allocated LGF Funding, which is a central ‘pot’ of money split amongst all 39 LEPs and is given for projects which can boost local economies. D2N2 has so far been allocated £192million LGF funding and has invested in a number of projects across its area, including the University of Derby’s Chesterfield Campus.
This building is being refurbished to provide specialist learning spaces and a business innovation centre. These will help to provide employers and students with access to contemporary digital and engineering technologies and will also help attract young adults that would prefer not to travel or leave home to access higher level skills provision.
It is hoped that the new campus will:
- raise aspirations and ambition amongst young learners by having a University presence in the town;
- encourage more adults to consider self-employment as an alternative to unemployment; and
- create a more resilient workforce and assist in retaining more young talent in the Chesterfield area.
Research commissioned by the University of Derby into the economic impact of its Buxton Campus – which has been operational for ten years this year – showed that it supported 500 jobs a year, through a total spend of £32 million. It is hoped that similar results can be achieved for its new Chesterfield Campus.
For more information on the new Chesterfield Campus, click here
For more information on D2N2’s LGF allocation and other projects it has helped to fund, click here
For more information on the D2N2 LEP generally, click here
For more information about this media release, please contact Sam Burbage, Social Media and Marketing Officer, on 0115 9578254, or by email: sam.burbage@d2n2lep.org
