Ron Dearing UTC opens cutting-edge creative hub

OPEN: Ron Dearing UTC principal Sarah Pashley, centre, Lauren McGee, Ørsted’s head of site for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm, left, and Councillor Linda Tock, Hull City Council’s portfolio holder for children’s services, right, with students outside the new STEAM Studios

By Rick Lyon

A dedicated new centre for creativity has been officially opened at Hull’s Ron Dearing University Technical College (UTC) to support and inspire its growing number of students.

The school in Kingston Square, city centre, has opened STEAM Studios in the former Hull Central Fire Station next door to prepare students for careers in the creative sector. 

It will also be used to educate engineering students about opportunities in renewable energy.

The site has been renovated and repurposed to create a cutting-edge hub including a gallery and exhibition space, digital and photography studios, 2D and 3D studios, as well as an additional sixth form independent study centre. 

STEAM Studios is part of wider expansion work at the school, which included remodelling parts of the existing UTC building to create research and development science laboratories and independent study spaces.

EXPANSION: Lauren McGee cutting the ribbon to officially open STEAM Studios, with Sarah Pashley, Councillor Linda Tock and students from the school’s Arts Council

The expansion has enabled the UTC to increase its capacity from 600 to 800 students following funding from the Department for Education’s (DfE) Post-16 Capacity Fund, in response to huge demand for student places.

The school, which has been oversubscribed every year since it opened its doors in 2017, has already filled all its additional places and reached its new capacity – a year ahead of schedule.

Renewable energy company Ørsted, which develops, constructs and operates offshore wind farms across Europe, is a major partner of Ron Dearing UTC and has made a substantial financial contribution towards the school’s expansion.

The funding, complimented by additional funds from other founding and major UTC partners, has also ensured the STEAM Studios building is as energy efficient as possible.

Invited guests attended the official opening of the new centre on Friday, September 29, which saw students lead them on tours of the state-of-the-art facilities and see a range of creative workshops including animation, photography, ceramics and fine art. 

PROVISION: A-level Photography will be one of the courses delivered at Ron Dearing UTC’s new STEAM Studios expansion

Hull City Council gave the go-ahead for the school’s expansion plans last year and SPACE architects, working with contractors, Sewell Construction, completed the project in August this year. Hull Esteem Consortium LEP Ltd acted as project managers on the scheme.   

Ron Dearing UTC principal Sarah Pashley said: “STEAM Studios is an incredible facility which is perfect for our rapidly expanding creative pathways. We’re delighted to be able to offer more students a Ron Dearing education and it’s really positive to have hit our recruitment target a year early – which further demonstrates the demand for places and the need for this expansion.

“We’re keen to become a centre of creativity for the community and this has been a hugely exciting project which was a real team effort from everyone involved.

“We’re exceptionally grateful to Ørsted for their backing, to our fantastic founding and major partners for their sponsorship funding, and to the Department for Education for the multi-million-pound grant from its Post-16 Capacity Fund to make this possible.

“The building is amazing. Everyone involved has worked really hard to retain its history and integrity while transforming it into a high-tech creative facility which is also a low carbon building – quite a challenge!”

NEW FACILITY: Ron Dearing UTC has opened STEAM Studios to prepare students for exciting careers in the creative sector

In addition to A-levels in Fine Art and Photography and technical qualifications in Creative iMedia, STEAM Studios has enabled new courses to be introduced, including A-level 3D Design and A-level Graphic Communication.

The renewable energy aspects of the UTC’s engineering curriculum will now be taught in the Ørsted Digital Laboratory in STEAM Studios.

Ron Dearing UTC has employed Jacob Wardle as the school’s first exhibition curator. He will be responsible for organising exhibitions, planning events and running arts markets and creative community workshops at STEAM Studios.

Watercolour and mixed media landscape painting artist Kane Cunningham will be the first artist to exhibit in the STEAM Studios gallery. His work will be open to the public throughout October. 

Lynn Garland-Collins, creative director at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “STEAM Studios is a really exciting space where students can flourish together to ignite their creativity, learn new skills and realise their creative potential. 

CREATIVE: STEAM Studios includes a gallery and exhibition space, digital and photography studios, 2D and 3D studios, as well as an additional sixth form independent study centre

“We’re looking forward to welcoming a wide range of professional artists, photographers and other wonderful creative influences to really inspire our students and enrich our curriculum in STEAM Studio’s first-class facilities.

“We’ve invested in state-of-the-art creative equipment, including a kiln for ceramics and glass work, high tech printing facilities and industry-standard digital kit. We’re also very grateful to Sonoco-Trident for providing Apple Mac computers for our Mac Suite.”

Lauren McGee, Ørsted’s head of site for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm, said: “Ørsted is so proud to support STEAM Studios.

“We have a passion for inspiring the next generation into roles within the renewable energy sector. Our investment in the independent learning facilities at RDUTC and the Digital Lab in STEAM Studios is a great example of our commitment to investing in young people and education.

“With the offshore wind sector predicted to have 100,000 careers in the UK by 2030, our partnership with Ron Dearing UTC facilitates powerful, employer-led learning that gives students the chance to hear and work with real industries while learning skills that will help them in their future jobs.”

Councillor Linda Tock, Hull City Council’s portfolio holder for children’s services, said: “The council is delighted by the expansion of Ron Dearing UTC into the repurposed Central Fire Station.

“The transformation is quite incredible and is sure to inspire learners’ creativity.”