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£17m spree will help university status challenge
From the Bolton Evening News, first published Monday 16th Sep 2002.
A BOLTON college is to undergo a major £17million revamp.
And bosses at Bolton Institute are hoping that that multi-million pounds transformation might help them win their fight to get university status.
The Deane campus which has 7,000 students, many from abroad, will be developed over the next five years.
Plans include:
Vice principle Peter Marsh said a new application for university status has already been lodged with the Privy Council but it could take up to a year before a final decision is made.
Although the new look campus will not count towards the criteria of university status, Mr Marsh added: "It will help to make the Institute more visible."
The Institute has spent the past 10 years striving for the important status but has always been turned down. In December the Institute's results in the Research Assessment Exercise league tables were described as "convincing improvement." And the scores put Bolton on a level footing with new universities such as Central Lancashire and East Anglia.
The first phase of the revamp will be unveiled next month when a new innovation zone and a student centre open.
The innovation zone will allow businesses access to technical and management advice on advanced materials including research into fireproof fabrics and will make Bolton a leader in the modern textile industry.
New units have been built in front of the textile centre in Eagle Mall. They will house up to 12 technical textiles businesses, including offices, workshop facilities, IT and accounting support.
Providing planning permission is granted, the next phase of the development will see the famous eight-storey tower reduced to a three-and-a-half storey unit which will house a state-of-the-art open plan design studio accommodating computer design, digital imaging, textiles and website design.
The renovation work on the tower should be completed by April 2004.
Director of Finance and Estates, Colin Hubbard, said: "The Deane tower is a very dominant feature on the skyline, but lots of people see it as an eyesore.
"When it was built 40 years ago it was a good piece of architecture, but as a workable building it's not easily useable now.
"The overall plan is very exciting and students will want to come here because of the transformation.
"It will become a classy place to study and we hope that the Institute will become much more part of the town centre instead of being cut off on the outskirts."
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