Educational switch proposed in Sunderland
A 54,000 sq ft building at Doxford International Business Park could be converted for use by UK Management College.
In a change of use application now validated on Sunderland City Council’s planning portal, UKMC sets out its intentions for the 2000-built 1 Grayling Court, a vacant office building.
Advised by ELG Planning, the organisation wants to add to its existing holdings, which include bases in Manchester, Salford, Derby and North Shields.
The intention is to offer BA (Hons) courses in areas such as health and social care, digital marketing, business management, fashion design, event management, and hospitality and tourism.
UKMC’s selling points include flexibility on entry routes and flexibility in learning options, with weekday, weekend and evening study offered. It partners with various universities and other bodies to provide its services.
The organisation said it intends to bring students and business community together: “Like we have done for other programmes in Manchester and Derby, we will invite such companies aligning with the curriculum to invite them for guest lectures, potentially taking our students for placements or summer internships and to work together on research projects with our students and staff.
“Some companies would become part of our Employers’ Forum and career fairs activities on the Sunderland campus, which is also in a business estate with many companies relevant to such programmes.”
Summing up its case in the planning statement’s conclusion, ELG points to thr city of Sunderland’s ambition to drive commercial occupiers towards an evolving city centre, thus justifying a change of use at what was at one time seen as a key office location.
The firm said: “The office and employment market in Sunderland is undergoing a notable period of trans formation, with significant new commercial development focused within the city centre. This is including the completion of the Maker & Faber buildings at Riverside Sunderland.
“These two grade A office buildings provide approximately 156,938 sq.ft of high-specifi cation commercial floorspace and form part of a wider regeneration strategy to deliver over 1m sq ft of employment space in the city centre.”
Documents related to the proposal can be viewed on SCC’s planning portal, reference 25/02722/FUL.
