A £33m regeneration project aims to transform part of one Merseyside community and students from The City of Liverpool College will play a key role. Tony McDonough reports
College students will play a major role in delivering a £33m Merseyside regeneration project.
SAFE Regeneration, a community social enterprise and arts organisation, is looking to transform a six-acre area in Bootle next to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. It has already submitted plans for the project to Sefton Council.
It will include 107 affordable family homes, an 80-bed extra care facility for residents aged 55 and over, leisure facilities, a microbrewery and an arts hub and business centre.
Now SAFE is to team up with The City of Liverpool College to give students the opportunity to help deliver the scheme. It will draw on skills across the college’s department, including construction, leisure and tourism, hospitality, business planning, arts and creativity and digital and graphic design.
They will have the opportunity to work on a real life, local project, contributing to Bootle’s regeneration, while gaining valuable work experience, whether through placements with contractors or in local bars and restaurants.
SAFE will benefit from having access to a pool of local talent, who all have a desire and determination to learn and develop their skills and make a real, lasting difference to their communities.
One such project that students on the college’s digital courses are already working on, is a community app, to keep members of the Bootle community updated on events in the area, and the progress of the regeneration project.
Brian Dawe, chief executive at SAFE Regeneration said: “We believe passionately that the good people of Bootle deserve quality and choice and are committed to working with our community partners to continue to bring significant social, economic and environmental benefits to our neighbourhood.We’re incredibly excited to have the future generation of talented workers so involved in this ambitious project.”
The second phase of the project will see students create a digital health resource, which will link to local GP practices and enable remote health monitoring. This particular project is even more relevant given the strain that has been put on the NHS this year, with many practices being forced to conduct appointments remotely.
Elaine Bowker, principal and chief executive at The City of Liverpool College, added: “The partnerships that we have across The City of Liverpool College are designed to provide our students with unique opportunities real world experience.
“We are passionate about ensuring that we are providing our students with the skills they need to enter the world of work and having the chance to work on such a significant local project for students across the college is an opportunity like no other.”