The Northern School of Art is the only specialist provider of creative courses in the north east with provision from school leaver to postgraduate. It provides a range of courses for school leavers through to postgraduate across creative disciplines, including: Art & Design, Costume, Acting, Film, TV & Theatre, Sound, Lighting & Camera, Post-production, Visual Effects & Model Making, Production Design, Fashion with Body Contour, Textiles & Surface Design, Photography, Sound, Graphic Design, Digital Design & Advertising, Events & Exhibition Design, Illustration, Fine Art, Practical Product & Spatial Design, Creative Design Enterprise and Design History.
It is rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for further education provision and are rated ‘Gold’ by the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (2018) for higher education provision which means they have some of the highest ratings of student satisfaction alongside to students also having access to some of the highest standards of teaching in the UK. Their graduates have the highest rates of progress in the Tees Valley; over the last four years over 96% of graduates in employment or postgraduate study six months after graduating.
In partnership with, and with support from Middlesbrough Council, and the Combined Authority, the School is relocating to a new purpose built campus in a town centre location. To help fund the relocation, the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority have made a £14.5million investment into the project, with a £7.25million non-repayable grant, and £7.25million repayable grant.
The relocation is supported by a robust economic plan which sets out how the relocation and its ability to provide specialist skills training for the creative sector will support an increase in footfall to the town centre location, further engender support for town-based events and businesses, as well as provide a skilled workforce for the creative economy within the Tees Valley. The location of the new campus will also encourage use of public transport with its convenient location adjacent to Middlesbrough Bus and Rail Stations. The new campus is also located alongside the Creative and Digital Industry cluster in the BoHo zone.
The relocation also provides a range of opportunities for The Northern School of Art in that, in its current location, the campus does not allow any further expansion for increasing School numbers, it offers limited scope for modernisation and responding to the changing needs and requirements of training, education and skills, it also has high running, energy and maintenance costs due to its age and design. The costs of redesign and rebuild on the current site do not represent good value and will not address the limitations in relation to the size of the site.
Construction of the site is now under way, with the steel frame being put into place on the site.
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