The £12.6m extension of Thomas Telford University Technical College (UTC) has topped out.

The extension of the UTC is latest Associated Architects-designed addition to the University of Wolverhampton’s £120million Springfield campus, is due to complete later in the year. It is the fourth project the practice has designed for the site, which is Europe’s largest construction education campus and adds to the School of Architecture and the Built Environment (SoABE) and the National Brownfield Institute (NBI) currently in its final stages of development.

The extension comprises of a three-storey teaching building and a separate sports hall facility with a reconfigured external social space and multi-use games area. The 4,500sq.m boost for the UTC will increase the school’s intake by 450 additional pupils, taking the total capacity to 1,050, while supporting at least 50 additional roles for teaching and support staff.

The project has seen a highly effective collaboration between the Thomas Telford Multi-Academy Trust, the Department for Education, The University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton City Council and the design and construction team to bring forward a scheme that continues the rejuvenation and reinvention of the former brewery site.

Richard Perry, Director Associated Architects said, “We have been excited to continue our work at the Springfield campus. It has been a great team effort to develop such a fantastic scheme on a brownfield site within the local conservation area, whilst meeting the aspirations of the Thomas Telford Multi-Academy Trust and the DfE and working within the context of the wider Springfield masterplan.”

Richard Fielding, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction added: “We are excited to see the extension take shape and move a step closer to the handover of this landmark college which will see improved facilities for pupils and teachers. The extension will enable the next generation of leaders in construction to learn in a state-of-the-art environment.”