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How £50m Wolverhampton Learning Quarter will transform city

These new images show how the site of a former city centre nightclub will be transformed into a modern college campus.

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An artist impression showcases the new Learning Quarter which will line Bilston Street

New buildings will spring up to form the £50m Learning Quarter in Wolverhampton, changing the face of a section of the city centre.

The new buildings will be put up at either end of Bilston Street, opposite the police station, to form Wolverhampton College’s new city centre campus.

Faces will be replaced by an impressive new college building

A rounded, modern-looking building will take shape on the former site of the Faces nightclub, which has been bulldozed over recent weeks.

A detailed planning application will be lodged this week as education bosses look to clear a major hurdle to bring the project closer to reality.

Key to the city centre location is the improved transport links in the city.

The former Faces nightclub ahead of demolition

The Midland Metro will run past the new Learning Quarter and is being extended to join the train station.

It all forms part of a plan to make the city’s college more appealing to prospective students. The new Learning Quarter is expected to be ready in 2021 when the college will leave its long-standing Paget Road site.

The new education centre will create and safeguard 750 jobs for the region.

The college says about 13,000 people will benefit from learning at the City Learning Quarter and around 2,500 apprenticeships will be completed.

The Faces nightclub had been demolished

Councillor Harman Banger, cabinet member for city economy, said: “I am so excited to share the detailed plans for the City Learning Quarter which will transform the learning environment for our students and residents.

“We are working hard with City of Wolverhampton College to ensure we not only deliver a vibrant education hub where we improve the city’s learning, apprenticeship and employment offers, but also that we retain our best talent, rather than losing people to different parts of the region.

“The new facilities will provide a vital facelift to the city which is benefiting from £1 billion of investment overall. I have every confidence that when our plans become a reality, we will be creating an environment where everyone can flourish.”

The site is being cleared ready for the new Learning Quarter

The former Faces nightclub has been reduced to a pile of rubble as work to transform the site continues.

The old club has been bulldozed over the last few weeks leaving behind a huge mound of earth, bricks and debris.

Workers are now focusing on removing the rubble ahead of the construction of a new college campus.

It has been a quick turnaround at the corner of Garrick Street and Bilston Street where the building, also known as Atlantis and Oceania over the years, has been brought down while roads have remained open and traffic has continued to flow normally.

Experts say energy efficient buildings and traffic reduction will stop more than 600 tons of CO2 emissions from being released into the atmosphere.