Work has started on a new £11m university technical college (UTC) to house 600 engineering and manufacturing students in Leeds.
The UTC will have a mini-factory as well as classrooms for its pupils, aged between 14 and 18-years-old.
It would be the first in the Leeds City Region and is due to open in September 2016, the college said.
It is to be housed in a wing of a Grade II-listed engineering building in Hunslet Road in the city centre.
The college will also provide core academic qualifications and has a target for at least one in three students to be female, it said.
There will be 105 places for Year 10 students and 120 places for Year 12 students in the first intake.
The Leeds City Region brings together the local authorities of Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield, York, and North Yorkshire County Council.
The college is sponsored by the University of Leeds, manufacturers including Agfa Graphics, Siemens and Unilever, and business organisations including Leeds Chamber of Commerce.
The college building received planning permission from Leeds City Council in September.
It is to be housed in the Braime Pressings Ltd factory's converted west wing. The firm has an 125-year engineering history.
- Published14 August 2012
