Middlesborough College
LSIP & Levelling Up Fund Management & Capital Procurement
GenNorth was appointed to manage funding expenditure from two key sources aimed at improving the skills needed for growth in the region, including by capitalising on net zero transition and the ongoing increase in the need for healthcare and manufacturing professionals.
The Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) represents the regional element of a national initiative to bring together education providers and employers to work together in a coordinated manor to enable investment in facilities and equipment that will support the growth of relevant skills within a region. This initiative has involved colleges across the Tees Valley working together to provide enhanced teaching and learning resources focussed around retrofit and healthcare skills development which were identified as priority areas for investment.
The Middlesbrough College element of the LSIF represents a £600,000 investment across a range of capital improvements to the college healthcare training facilities together with the procurement of a wide array of teaching resources and equipment including a number of ‘state of the art’ IT enabled teaching manikins. A highlight of the investment is the construction of a new immersive suite that combines innovative technology, virtual reality, interactive 3D graphics and audio content to provide students with a creative multi-sensory learning space. It allows the simulation of many different healthcare practice environments so you can experience and respond to real-life situations in a safe environment.
The Chamber of Commerce has subsequently commissioned promotional videos bringing together colleges, employers and students to demonstrate the benefits of the investment in retrofit and healthcare skills directly as a result of the LSIP funding.
Following a successful funding application, Middlesbrough College was awarded £5.9m of Levelling Up funding, targeted at a number of key curriculum areas including healthcare, engineering, SEN and business & skills. Investment has comprised a number of capital developments to extend, remodel and improve spaces for teaching and learning and also in machinery and equipment to enable learners to gain exposure to the latest in workplace and industrial technologies.
GenNorth proactively tracked and managed expenditure against each of these funding allocations, maximising the investment within the strict funding requirements and providing accurate and timely reporting to feed into college and funding body governance processes.
The resulting investment has substantially improved college facilities and provided a number of best-in-class teaching resources that will benefit learners in the areas in highest demand in the region. Working with a number of college stakeholders, GenNorth has helped Middlesbrough College to fully invest the available funding in targeted areas that will maximise the benefit to learners in areas key to the employment needs of the local economy, including a start of the art immersive studio to simulate a range of real life healthcare settings.
The key challenge was maximise spend against the LSIP year 1 budget which required all eligible expenditure to be committed to and invoiced by the end of March 2024, despite approval only being received in December 2023. GenNorth worked with curriculum, estates and finance teams to plan and procure a range of capital and revenue investments to make sure the funding was fully drawn down and the benefit to staff and learners maximised. Regular focussed engagement between all parties was key to this success.
Key Information
Location: Middlesborough
Date Started: April 2024
Date Completed: September 2024
Sector: Education
Services: Stakeholder Engagement & Visioning
