UCR roof “topped off” as build reaches one step closer to completion

A topping-out ceremony was held to celebrate a huge milestone in the construction of the brand new University Centre Rotherham, located on Doncaster Gate in Rotherham town centre.

Willmott Dixon are just months away from completing the build of the £10.5million brand new campus, which will expand massively the range of degrees and higher level training available in Rotherham.

John Connolly, Chief Executive for the RNN Group, the organisation behind University Centre Rotherham and Rotherham College, welcomed Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and other representatives from partner organisations including Sheffield City Region and Rotherham Together Partnership, to mark the completion of the highest point of the building.

A representative from Lloyds Bank also attended the event, an organisation that has both supported and partly-funded the project.

John Connolly, said of the build: “It’s fantastic to see our new University Centre Rotherham really starting to take shape and beginning to take its place on the Rotherham skyline.”

“Over the coming months, people will hear much more about the courses and brilliant facilities, and we’ll be working closely with more employers to get them involved so training meets their needs for highly-skilled staff.”

Behind the scenes at the RNN Group, the organisation is working collaboratively with the university partners which accredit their degrees and with regional employers to develop courses that are sought after within the local economy.

The centre is a key part of the Rotherham 2025 strategy to regenerate the town to make better place to live, work, invest in and visit.

Andrew Denniff, Chief Executive of Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce said:

“The culmination of this project will bring what many businesses in Rotherham have been hoping for a long time – a university campus in our own town and in a central location. The number one priority for a majority of businesses is getting staff with the right skillset and developing our own ‘home grown talent’ will prove a major step forward.  This also ties in with the Rotherham Together Partnership ‘game changer’ of increasing skills and employment in the borough”.

Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy Councillor Denise Lelliott said she was excited to see work on the Centre progressing:

“University Centre Rotherham will be a great asset to the borough,” she said. “As Rotherham looks forward to a future with more growing and innovative businesses, the UCR will help to develop a home-grown future workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge.” 

Nigel Brewster, Vice Chair of the Sheffield City Region (SCR) Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The University Centre will help to attract, retain and develop skills in the region which are so important for the SCR’s sustainable growth. It will be a major asset to Rotherham and the employers and workforce of the region – the ‘let’s get it done’ work-ethic in Sheffield City Region harnesses drive and ambition.”

Richard Stowell, Operations Manager for Willmott Dixon said, “UCR has made fantastic progress since the start in September 2017; in the space of a few months we have completed the groundwork, erected the steel, cast the floors and started the perimeter cladding.

“The roof topping out marks a significant milestone in the project calendar as we begin to commence internal trades, and is another milestone in our work to achieve completion later this year, so that UCR can welcome its first students this autumn.”

University Centre Rotherham is due to welcome students from autumn 2018, offering a huge range of degrees, foundation degrees, higher national certificates and diplomas, and other professional training in areas such as business enterprise, graphic design, performance, engineering, education, computing, media and photography and much more.