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Gateshead construction company Tolent has won the contract to build the £15m Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy in Sunderland.

Tolent has been awarded the contract to design and construct the Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy (HICSA), which will be led by Sunderland College in moves to train local people to create innovative factory-built new homes, the first of which will be assembled at Riverside Sunderland. Planning consent for the development was granted in March and it is hoped that work will be able to start later this year when the technical design is complete.

Once complete, the facility – based at Sheepfolds on the site of the existing goods shed on the corner of Hay Street – will have a number of education and industry partners including the Ministry of Building Innovation and Education (MOBIE), which is led by Washington-born TV architect, George Clark.

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Coun Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “I’m pleased that we have appointed a construction partner able to help us drive forward with a development that is of huge significance to the city – a development that will fuel the development of construction skills that will make Sunderland a leader in MMC and retrofit. With Tolent working on the development of the first housing scheme on Vaux too, it is quite fitting that they will also be building the training academy that will develop skills to help us deliver future phases of residential development at Riverside Sunderland.”

When completed, HICSA will support the development of eco-friendly homes planned for Riverside Sunderland and the city centre. It has been backed by the Government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF) - announced as part of the last Autumn Budget – with £20m committed to supporting the city’s housing ecosystem, including £9m of support for HICSA.

Paul Webster, CEO of Tolent, said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed to construct this trailblazing academy that will help nurture the next generation of skilled people, who will build homes of the future in Sunderland. The talent that emerges from HICSA will no doubt power our own future skills pipeline, so we’re pleased to be playing a part in bringing this important project forward.”

Ellen Thinnesen, chief executive of Sunderland College and Education Partnership North East, said: “I am grateful to Sunderland City Council and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for supporting this vision. A significant increase in training provision is needed for all skills and roles across the construction and energy sectors if we are to build homes of the future, and support the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s low carbon ambitions. HICSA will be a key part of the ecosystem.”