Matthew Boulton College
| Motto | Shaping futures, realising dreams |
|---|---|
| Type | FE College |
| Location |
Jennens Road Birmingham West Midlands B4 7PS |
| Local authority | Birmingham |
| DfE number | 330/8030 |
| DfE URN | 130466 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports Pre-academy reports |
| Gender | mixed |
| Ages | 14+ |
| Website | Birmingham Metropolitan College Website |
Birmingham Metropolitan College is a further and higher education college with eight campuses distributed within Birmingham, England. The college was created in 2009 as an amalgamation of Matthew Boulton College and Sutton Coldfield College. The main site is Matthew Boulton College based at Jennens Road in Birmingham City Centre.
In addition to the existing campuses and facilities, there are proposals for the construction of a new campus in Perry Barr, although these plans are currently on hold due to funding issues. The college is a member of the Collab Group of high performing schools.
The origins of Matthew Boulton College are related to the Municipal Technical School, which was located on Suffolk Street in Birmingham. Construction commenced on the college on 18 November 1893 and it was opened on 16 September 1895. The purpose-built premises were used by 34 staff and approximately 2,000 students. The classes available were Chemistry, Physics, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Metallurgy, Mathematics, Handicrafts and Typography and Drawing.
By the mid-1930s, a new site had been acquired in Gosta Green and another college called the College of Technology, Commerce and Art was constructed, although construction was delayed by World War II. The Gosta Green site became the UK's first College of Advanced Technology (CAT), later Aston University, receiving its royal charter in 1966. In 1957, it was decided to rename the separate Suffolk Street building and in November 1957, it became the Matthew Boulton Technical College, named after Matthew Boulton, a prominent local industrialist of the Industrial Revolution.
During the 1950s and 1960s, a new college was constructed on Sherlock Street and the courses were moved there in a phased approach throughout the 1960s. By the late 1990s, these premises had become unfit for purpose and it was deemed uneconomic to refurbish them, so Matthew Boulton College sought a new location on Jennens Road in the Eastside area of the city in late 1999 close to the Aston University Campus. The 18,000-square-metre (193,750 sq ft) site was purchased by the college from Aston University in 2003 and a three-month demolition programme on the site commenced in September 2003. Construction started in January 2004 and was completed by July 2005 to allow the building to be opened to students for the new academic year in September 2005. The project cost £37.9 million, £13.2 million was given by the Birmingham and Solihull Learning and Skills Council, the largest awarded in the Midlands and the second largest in the country to a college of further and higher education. Construction cost approximately £23 million. Bond Bryan Architects were commissioned to design the scheme while Davis Langdon were appointed to manage the construction and costs of the project.
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