YORK based Portakabin Group has achieved another first in the construction of the UK's education sector after securing a £14 million design and build contract for a new university technical college.

The Huntington-based company has been selected to build the Global Academy for the London Borough of Hillingdon, which is set to become the UK's first universal technical college (UTC) to be built off site.

The deal follows Portakabin being awarded the UK’s largest ever off-site contract in the education sector in October when it won a £44 million deal to build Riverside Schools, a 23,000sq metre project made up of three school campuses in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Both projects are being constructed through Portakabin's off-site building service called Yorkon, which will see most of the work completed at the firm's factory in York.

Opening in September 2016, the Global Academy will provide academic and vocational training for 14-19 year olds who want to work in the broadcast and digital media industries.

Designed by the Portakabin Group and architects Surface to Air, the technically-complex building is also designed to deliver a demanding acoustic specification for the broadcast studios, with triple glazing and specially-engineered air conditioning.

Simon Ambler, director of the Portakabin Group, which employs 1,600 people in the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Holland, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded the contract for the UK’s first UTC to be built off site.

"This is part of a really exciting regeneration scheme, which will create a landmark education facility to give young people fantastic, practical training for the broadcast and digital media industries.

"This is a hugely significant project for the construction sector. It demonstrates the architectural flexibility of a highly engineered Yorkon off-site solution from the Portakabin Group and how an outstanding building design can successfully integrate different construction methods.

"It also illustrates really well how we can deliver an inspiring, animated and intelligent building in a very short timescale and on a highly complex site."

The Global Academy will house a sports hall, theatres and a cinema, which will be linked to a four-storey modular building by a full-height central atrium space.

The scheme is being constructed by the Portakabin Group on the heritage brownfield site of the Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The site will also require the Portakabin Group to carry out complex groundworks, extensive excavations for district heating, and the construction of a new sub-station.