The former Contemporary Urban Centre (CUC) on Greenland Street, is set for a fresh new life as an educational centre of excellence, delivering ground-breaking science and industry education to 14-19-year-olds.
The closure of the CUC back in January surprised and saddened many who had loved the gloriously restored Victorian warehouse as a contemporary music, arts and entertainment venue. For six months, the empty building, with its vaulted crypt basement, 120-seat cinema, bare brick walls and 150,000 square feet of polished oak floorboards, had echoed to the sound of its owner’s pledge to see that the iconic building passes into the right hands.
By incredible chance and perfect timing, the North Liverpool Academy Trust was looking for a suitable city-centre home, where two planned new schools, both due to open in September 2013, could provide cutting-edge facilities for students in life sciences and digital gaming technology. The schools will spend the next year fitting the building out with state-of-the-art equipment that will be the envy of scientists and technologists around the world.
Geoff Wainright, Director of 2Bio Ltd and Chief Executive of Liverpool Life Sciences adds:
“It is fantastic news that the new Liverpool Life Science University Technical College has secured the CUC facility for its operations. Being in the centre of Liverpool will mean that travel to it will be easy for its students wherever they come from within the wider City region. This new Life Sciences UTC has been very much welcomed by our local industry partners, with support coming from them to develop courses all with a view to ensuring that the students of the UTC receive the best possible preparation for a career in the Life Sciences Industry.
Seeing the tremendous potential of the new CUC owners, Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, commented:
“The Studio School and University Technical College are examples of our schools innovating, seeking excellence and preparing our children for a changing world.
“Games development and life sciences are sectors that are growing in importance and impact year on year. Both sectors offer long term, lucrative careers to our young people if they are equipped with the skills to work in these areas. North Liverpool Academy has secured funding to establish centres of excellence for both and, really interestingly, are locating both schools at one site in the CUC which sits on the edge of my former ward and the place I was born and raised.
“Seeing the CUC brought back into use like this is a fantastic opportunity for the area, for Liverpool and for the wider city region. Once again we are showing the country and world what we as a city can achieve to create great places to learn and develop the skilled workforce of the future.”