THE search is on again for a base for Swindon’s University Technical College after the preferred location was ruled out due to unforeseen costs and complications.

The Government announced in May that Swindon’s bid was one of 15 approved from the 27 submitted in January, and it would commit between £7m and £10m towards the project.

Swindon Council decided in January that a former railway works building in London Road – Workshop A – was the preferred site, and allocated up to £500,000 towards the possible conversion.

However, Coun David Renard, cabinet member for children’s services, has now revealed the building has been found to be unsuitable, so a feasibility study is under way on five other possible locations.

He said a more detailed study found it would be substantially more than £10m and take much longer to convert, and would throw up additional complications because it is a listed building and could be on contaminated ground.

“It’s disappointing because I think everybody thought that if we could have delivered that, it would have been the ideal location, but there were just too many things against it to make it deliverable,” he said.

“But we’ve got some other really good options on the table, so we will see what comes out of the study.”

Coun Renard declined to reveal the locations at this stage.

However, he said that four were in the town centre, including one which is another Network Rail property near to Workshop A, while the fifth was an out-of-town location identified by the Government.

Commenting on the Government’s suggestion, he said: “If it was in the town centre, that would be the ideal one. But because it’s not and will be drawing in young people from the surrounding counties, having it three or four miles out of town would make it incredibly difficult for them to get to.”

The UTC, which will specialise in engineering with business and enterprise and entrepreneurship, will be for 14 to 19-year-olds in the Swindon area who will access high-quality education and training, supported by a range of UTC partners including local companies.

Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells, an international hi-tech firm that has its headquarters at Lydiard Fields, is the main business sponsor and Oxford Brookes University is the university sponsor.

The two organisations are taking over the lead on the project from the council.

A planning application for the UTC must be submitted by the end of the year to ensure it can open by September 2014.