A TOPPING out ceremony has taken place at a new sixth form college set to open in Bradford in September following a £13 million renovation.

The ceremony took place at Dixons Sixth Form Academy in Bowling Old Lane, which will open later this year for students across Bradford.

Representatives from Dixons Academies Trust, Bradford Council and Kier Group - which has been in charge of the renovation of the former Douglas Mills.

The ceremony also offered a first glimpse inside the old building at work which has been taking place to bring the building up to scratch.

The project involves a full refurbishment of the site and the construction of a new sports hall to accommodate the first cohort of 360 students, which will increase to a full capacity of 880 students by 2021.

Mark Rothery, headteacher, said: "I'm excited in so many different ways.

"It's a fantastic building and we have a great team working on it. We know it will be on time and of fantastic quality."

The main building will include ten science labs, 15 classrooms and a huge top-floor lecture theatre for "blue-ribbon event", Mr Rothery added.

John O’Callaghan, managing director for Kier Construction Northern, commented: “We are thrilled that the Department of Education has appointed us to deliver Dixons Sixth Form in Bradford.

“There is a shortage of post-16 places the city, and there is no doubt that the construction of a new sixth form will be positive for the local area.

“We will construct modern education, teaching and sporting facilities to help towards Dixons vision which is to continue to revolutionise the education offering in Bradford for all pupils to be Russell Group ready.”

A planning application for temporary accommodation for classrooms was submitted last month for the Dixons Sixth Form site, but the academy trust assured this was merely a precautionary measure.

A spokesperson said: “The college will absolutely be ready to open at the end of August.

“Kier are working hard with remodelling the building and great progress is taking place.

“The basement room is currently running two weeks behind schedule, so to mitigate any risks, an application has been submitted for one temporary cabin.

“Because our term commences at the very start of September, this is a precautionary measure which if needed will be in place to provide extra capacity for the first few weeks.”