Birmingham and Doncaster are to house the proposed National College for High Speed Rail.
The government has announced today that the pair have beat rival shortlisted cities Manchester and Derby to net the requirement.
In Birmingham, the college will be based at the city’s Birmingham’s Science Park, while in Doncaster it will be housed at the Lakeside campus. The college is due to open in 2017.
The college will train the next wave of engineers working on the £50bn HS2 high-speed rail project. Birmingham and Doncaster will house the college’s main “hubs” while there will also be a network of “spokes” across the UK.
The cities had been chosen on various criteria including size and availability of suitable sites, accessibility, and the potential to develop strong links with employers and providers already operating in the sector.
Birmingham had already netted the separate 100,000 sq ft headquarters requirement for HS2 Ltd, which signed to take the remaining space at Two Snowhill in the city in July.
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
