Kirklees College announces opening date of Dewsbury's Pioneer Higher Skills Centre

The opening of the specialist centre marks a key milestone in the Dewsbury Blueprint, a ten-year plan that aims to make Dewsbury town centre a safe, attractive, family friendly place to live, work, visit or learn.

The specialist centre has been designed to increase the skills of people by supporting them to gain qualifications, work skills and enhance their career prospects.

Phillipa Firth, Assistant Principal for Adults and Higher Education, said: “We are very excited to be delivering our Higher Education programmes from the newly restored Pioneer Higher Skills Centre. We hope that this specialist centre will be a welcome addition to the local area and provide the people of Dewsbury and beyond with the opportunity to learn a new skill or start a new career at Kirklees College.”

The restoration and regeneration project of the former Co-operative building has been funded by Kirklees Council together with Kirklees College with further contributions from the Leeds City Region Growth Deal, delivered by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and the Leeds LEP, The Heritage Lottery Fund and The Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative.

The historic Victorian Grade II Listed building covers 45,000 square metres over three floors and has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility as part of a £14million restoration project, with many heritage features maintained to provide a unique study environment.

In addition to the new art workshops, fashion and textiles studio, science labs, classrooms and IT suites, there is an extensive Learning Resource Centre to support learners in their studies. The centre also boasts a hair and beauty salon, café, Starbucks coffee shop and dedicated social spaces.

The Pioneer Higher Skills Centre will offer a wide range of vocational courses taught by industry experienced tutors to provide learners with hands-on experience in their chosen career path.

The centre will offer full time or part time courses in: art and design, business, early years, ESOL, computing, counselling, teaching and hair and beauty.

Councillor Peter McBride, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Regeneration said: “It’s wonderful to see Pioneer House has been injected with new life. The regeneration of this superb, historic building is just one element of our Blueprint for Dewsbury, to honour the heritage and bring more activity to the town centre.

"The state-of-the-art facilities offered at the Pioneer Higher Skills Centre will attract staff and students into the heart of Dewsbury, adding to the vibrancy of the area and boosting town centre businesses too.”

The centre will oficially open on Monday November 23.