New drawings of Sizewell C's coastal college emerge

College on the Coast will be built in Leiston if planning permission is granted

New details about an education complex which is being built by Sizewell C have emerged ahead of a public exhibition.

Subject to planning permission, College on the Coast will include a permanent post-16 facility and apprentice hub and be located in Leiston, near where the power plant is due to be built.

The campus is being delivered in partnership with Suffolk New College and hopes to welcome its first students from 2027.

Julia Pyke, Sizewell C's joint managing director, believes the new facility will help people "who have faced real barriers" access education.

Julia Pyke, Sizewell C's joint managing director, said the college would help people from Leiston and further afield

"Building an education campus right here in this town will be life-changing for thousands of local people," she added.

"This is the start of an exciting new chapter for Leiston and the wider region."

According to those behind the project, the site will deliver technical, vocational, and academic pathways "aligned to the workforce needs of Sizewell C and the wider energy, infrastructure, and engineering sectors".

If approved, it will take shape as a two-storey building facing King George's Avenue with space for 150 students and 20 full-time staff.

The college and apprenticeship hub would support up to 540 apprentices, Sizewell C said

Alan Pease, principal and chief executive officer at Suffolk New College, said: "We are delighted to announce the location and design of our new Leiston training centre.

"This news further extends our commitment to support those living in the east of the county and builds on the work that we have achieved."

The education campus will boast a centre of excellence, post-16 college and apprenticeship offering

The Sizewell C nuclear power plant is expected to go live from the mid-2030s

The new details about the campus are being shared a day after it was revealed the cost of building the Sizewell C nuclear power plant had jumped to £38bn from £20bn.

This will mean an additional £1 will be added to household energy bills every month for at least a decade.

Ms Pyke said earlier estimates did not account for inflation or risk.

But Alison Downes, director of pressure group Stop Sizewell C, said the project had "only crawled over the line thanks to guarantees that the public purse, not private investors, will carry the can for the inevitable cost overruns".

She added: "It is astounding that it is only now, as contracts are being signed, that the government has confessed that Sizewell C's cost has almost doubled to an eye watering £38bn - a figure that will only go up."