Blackburn’s Skills and Cyber Campus approved
Two buildings will be constructed on Blackburn’s 3.7-acre Brown Street car park, totalling almost 140,000 sq ft of internal floorspace.
Blackburn with Darwen Council approved a hybrid application from the council’s development partner, Maple Grove, to build on brownfield land off Brown Street and Penny Street.
A team to progress the development will now be appointed by the council, with advanced highway and enabling works expected to commence in early 2025.
Main construction will follow later in the year while the building aims to open in 2027.
The decision was made on Thursday.
Full planning permission has been granted to the larger of the two buildings, which will accommodate Training 2000, a Lancashire-based provider of commercial courses, with purpose-built facilities provided across all five floors.
Facing out over a proposed two-acre park, the facility it will contain amenities such as a ground floor café, ancillary office spaces, and meeting rooms.
Full planning was also granted for the campus’s urban park, which will double as an events space and a green access route into Blackburn’s town centre.
Building one will have a total internal floorspace of approximately 89,000 sq ft.
Outline permission for a second, smaller building was also granted.
The second building’s appearance and scale are yet to be determined. However, it will be required to be similar in shape and style to building one.
It will have around 50,000 sq ft of floorspace available for use.
The proposal’s success will develop the region’s largest education and skills hub and will play a central part in the delivery of £250m of investment for Blackburn Town Centre.
As part of Blackburn’s Business Innovation District, the campus will contribute to the creation of 1,200 jobs, 400 homes, and bring in £1bn of economic activity to the area.
Cllr Phil Riley, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “It’s terrific news that this planning application has been given the green light.
“This development will help transform that whole area of the town, attracting thousands of learners every year and helping to support the businesses there.”
He added: “And learners will also benefit from the very best, state-of-the-art facilities – it doesn’t get better than that.”
The project team for the skills campus is being led by BDP who drew up the plans, and Appleyard and Trew is the cost consultant.
Betts Hydro is the flood risk consultant, and WSP is the highways engineer.
Others included in the project are Bowland Ecology, Greenlane Archaeology, and Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist.
To view the application, use the reference number 10/24/0595 on Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning portal.
