A former Victorian factory which has lain empty for almost two decades is to be brought back to life as a college.
City planners have given the green light to the project to convert the 135-year-old Standard Works, in the Jewellery Quarter, into a specialist further education college for 16 to 25 year olds with a range of emotional and learning difficulties.
The permission comes two and a half years after the city council rejected a £2 million plan by Shrewsbury-based OE Developments to convert the Vittoria Street building into new homes and a restaurant, creating 40 jobs.
At the time, the council said the plan did not fit in with its conservation policy to "retain the industrial use of manufacturing premises" in the area.
Stourbridge-based Glasshouse College, which is owned by the Ruskin Mill Trust in Gloucestershire, is behind the project and has been working with Birmingham Conservation Trust on community engagement and consultation.
The trust specialises in developing educational and cultural centres out of heritage buildings by transforming them into centres for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities.
The new development will be able to teach up to 90 students and also contain a café with its own bakery (CGI above), a rooftop garden selling local produce, commercial zone for young jewellers and visitor space detailing the history of the Jewellery Quarter.
Janine Christley, director of fundraising with the Ruskin Mill Trust, said: "We have been keen to open a new college in Birmingham for some time and are delighted with the warm response we have received from everyone in the Jewellery Quarter.
"We look forward to actively being part of this vibrant community and delivering our successful transformational programmes to young people from the city."
Birmingham-based BPN Architects has designed the scheme with renovation due to start in September and completion expected for 2015.
