What are we doing?
We are now working with City College Plymouth on exciting new plans for a skills hub in the Civic Centre.
The plan involves converting three levels of the Civic – the basement, the ground and first floors into a campus for up to 2,000 students, from school leavers to adult learners, to learn new skills in special facilities including a sustainable business centre, virtual training labs, science labs, career hubs and other education spaces.
Why are we doing this?
City College Plymouth has been looking to expand its offer. Its success in attracting strong engineering and construction partnerships has led the college to look further afield for locations to host a new skills hub for the city.
A new city centre campus could see up to 60 courses, focussing on the city’s emerging marine sector – the blue sector – as well as a host of programmes in the environmental – the green sector. Courses could cover construction, engineering, energy and science to offshore wind, electric vehicle technology, battery storage, net zero and sustainable technology.
Our major employers are predicting a wave of job opportunities – up to 8,000 new jobs to be created by 2030 – with a big focus on blue and green industries, especially now we are home to the first National Marine Park and a £2.2 billion investment expected in the dockyard.
We are working together as a city to support our communities to gain new skills so that the city can flourish.
What has happened so far?
We have secured £3.3m of Future High Streets Fund and £8.5 million Levelling Up Funding for the project. We are also expecting to secure grant funding from Homes England.
Over the course of the next few months, we will need to buy back the building from Urban Splash. Urban Splash acquired the building in 2015 but have agreed to sell the Civic and car park back to the Council to enable this project to happen.
There are a number of legal matters to address which are currently being worked on including a lease agreement with City College Plymouth.
The first stage of restoration works has already begun, with internal strip out works having started in November 2024 and due to complete in August 2025. Following this, extensive structural investigations will be completed before a contractor is appointed to complete structural repairs.
We have announced a new strategic partnership with Homes England as part of our new city centre vision. They will be working with us on this ambitious project which includes plans for 144 homes within the tower block of the Civic. Part of Homes England role will be to introduce potential development partners who have a track record of delivering high quality residential projects.
We have already had discussions with a number of these partners about the role that they might play in the delivery of new homes across Plymouth city centre.
How long will the work take?
A planning application for change of use is required and this is due to be submitted by December 2025.
The next stage will involve removing existing cladding, new cladding, roof repairs, fire protection, services and public realm landscaping. This work will make the building watertight and will de-risk the future delivery of housing in the main tower.
It is anticipated that internal fitout would start in 2028. City College Plymouth expect to start teaching from September 2029.