A COLLEGE today officially opened its biggest redevelopment since moving to a new campus 11 years ago.

New College Durham invested £5 million in a new higher education centre, advanced manufacturing centre, creative and digital suite, upgraded library and improved gas and plumbing workshop for its Framwellgate Moor campus, on the outskirts of Durham City.

The opening was carried out by North East Local Enterprise Partnership chairman Andrew Hodgson. He said: “From the local strategic plan perspective, the impressive facilities at New College Durham are perfectly aligned to economic growth for the future.

“New College Durham already had a fantastic building. It has been further enhanced with these new facilities and will help students from creative, manufacturing and digital, where we see the jobs of the future, integrate and work together.”

John Widdowson, principal and chief executive of New College Durham, said: “We were delighted to officially open our new facilities today and showcase the investment we have made in updating our facilities to meet the needs of the local economy.”

In the higher education centre, traditional lecture spaces have been replaced with new learning facilities. There are a new dedicated IT room and informal and online working spaces.

The advanced manufacturing centre focuses on computer-aided design skills and has a pneumatics and hydraulics area.

The creative and digital suite comprise a television and radio studio with industry-standard facilities and spaces for small businesses.

The existing library has been modernised with new IT facilities and the gas and plumbing workshop has been expanded with a new gas testing centre and open plan workshop space.

Most of the work involves reusing existing buildings. The money will come from the college’s own funds.

New College Durham moved from Neville’s Cross to Framwellgate Moor in 2005. It currently has up to 9,000 students, studying further education courses, higher education courses, apprenticeships and more.

In 2014 it was named the best college in the North-East and second best in England by the Skills Funding Agency and also awarded its own degrees for the first time, becoming one of the few colleges permitted to do so.