Plans have been submitted for a new £40million Catalyst development at Staffordshire University.

The Catalyst Building, which is part-funded by the Office for Students, will take the place of the Brindley Building on the University's Stoke-on-Trent campus and will become a flagship for apprentices and digital skills.

Artists impressions, submitted with the planning application to Stoke-on-Trent City Council, reveal a modern brick building with a glass ground floor that brings the outside into the open plan space. The building will house the Apprenticeships & Digital Skills Hub, a new library, social learning spaces and a restaurant and café.


Set to open in 2020, the Catalyst Building will act as a study base for 6,500 new apprenticeships by 2030.

Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios are working with University and consultancy MACE to deliver the project.

Professor Martin Jones, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Staffordshire University said: "The new Catalyst Building will enhance the learning and social experience of all of our students, enabling them to achieve their full potential and to play an active part in the life of the University and wider community.

"The cutting-edge facilities will support our students to study flexible degrees that meet their needs and those of employers. The University plans to be the catalyst in transforming lives and prospects and helping students secure highly-skilled jobs."

Demolition work on the Brindley building will begin in January with construction on the Catalyst Building expected to begin in Spring 2019.

(CD)