CITY College Brighton and Hove has unveiled a new slimmed down vision for its central campus redevelopment with the previous scheme dubbed “unaffordable”.

The newly unveiled £36 million pound project would be half funded by the college including the sale of some of its land with the second half of the funds to be bid for from the Local Growth Fund.

The plans would see a complete refurbishment of the tower on its Pelham Street site with the college’s chief executive Nick Juba outlining a vision for a state-of-the-art CDIT centre creating hundreds of advanced and higher apprenticeships in the field within the next five years.

A 2,500 square metre new building in the north side of the car park would house a Centre for the Creative Industries specialising in creative, digital and IT sector.  

The redevelopment would require an enabling development of around 30 homes built on the car park site and 125 homes on the east of Pelham Street although this site is also being considered as one of two options for a new secondary free school for the city.

The redevelopment would also create around 715 square metres of employment space for digital companies and would see the creation of a square similar in size to Jubilee Square.

Mr Juba also unveiled plans to create a Greater Brighton Apprentice Company during a presentation to the Greater Brighton Economic Board earlier this week.

The chief executive told council leaders at the meeting the previously proposed £70 million scheme, which was granted planning permission in 2014, was now “unaffordable” and “failed to deliver” space required.

The college have been looking to redevelop the city centre site for more than eight years with previous plans unveiled by previous boss Lynn Thackway unveiling plans in 2013 for an eight-storey building with more than 12,000sqm of teaching space, a ten-storey tower of 442 student accommodation rooms and up to 125 homes.

Mr Juba said the new campus site would play a central role in the college’s plans to create a new Institute of Arts and Technology.

The college announced plans earlier this month to merge with Worthing-based Northbrook College creating an institute for 10,000 students.

Mr Juba said: “The proposals for the redevelopment of the Pelham Campus represent our early thinking around what could be achieved on the site.

"As with every school, college and university, we need some public funds to match our own contribution to making the scheme work. 

"At this very early stage, the scheme simply sets out in broad brushstrokes what could be achieved on the site.

"If we are successful with our bid for Local Growth Funding we will start to develop our plans in more detail.

"At that point we will be working with everyone in the local community - including our staff and students – to think through how the site can best deliver for our students and apprentices.”