The application was jointly prepared by Capita Symonds' Consulting and Project Management divisions with design support from its architecture division - Capita Architecture.
The funding has been sourced from the DCSF's (Department of Children Schools and Families) Exemplar Funding pot and will be used to build the new facility which will be specifically located within the project's proposed Community Sports Hub.
The Orford Park project is set to transform 50 acres of a former landfill site to provide a wide variety of retail, leisure, health, and education facilities. The project's Community Sports Hub includes brand new leisure facilities, a Primary Care Trust, library and community space, as well as training facilities for the Warrington Wolves Rugby League and Warrington Town Football Clubs.
The scheme will provide new opportunities, encouraging participation and social cohesion across the community through provision of a broad range of activities, all underpinned by healthy living opportunities. It will also play a key role in addressing the unemployment problems through improving lifelong learning, the local skill base and employability of the local community.
As well as providing consulting support, the Capita Symonds team is also leading on project management and design services for the Orford Park project. The planning application for the entire scheme will be submitted by the team by the end of this month.
Jacky Forster, of Warrington's 14-19 Partnership said: "We are really excited about the new Diploma Centre. Capita Symonds helped us shape and articulate our innovative proposal to create a state of the art, high specification facility for the health and science related aspects from a number of Diploma lines. We did very well securing the funding - it was a highly competitive bidding process with DCSF supporting just 15-20 proposals from 200 submissions. Capita Symonds' responded immediately and professionally to our needs to prepare the submission within very short timescales."
Chris Marriott of the Capita Symonds Consulting team said: "We seem to be on a good run. This brings the total value of funding we've secured for the
Council to £11.5m - sourced from Sport England, Football Foundation and the North West Development Agency."
The Orford Park project is scheduled to open in September 2011.
For further information contact:
T: 02920-333777
