Mastery of the art of blown sugar by students and staff at City of Glasgow College took centre stage at the recent opening of the college’s new Riverside Campus by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and City of Glasgow College Principal Paul Little unveiled a new £66m world-class campus on the banks of the River Clyde a number of weeks ago. Evening guests were treated to a three-course meal with carefully-crafted centrepieces depicting a nautical theme appropriate for a campus that specialises in maritime studies as well as engineering.
The colourful and intricate “works of art” were designed by Senior Lecturer Kenneth Hett and made by Kenneth and students of City of Glasgow College.
Skills in food education
Willie McCurrach, Curriculum Head for Food at the college, said: “The centrepieces really were works of art that demonstrate an incredible range of skills. The techniques used were blown sugar for the swans and fish, poured sugar for the main shape, and pastillage dipped in molten sugar for the rocks.
“The sculptures represented a really appropriate nautical theme for the opening of our fantastic new Riverside Campus. In total, ten incredible sugar monuments were made by Kenneth and our incredibly talented students as part of their coursework. It’s important to demonstrate that such skills remain prominent in food education and that they are being practised at such a high level by students.”
The campus
The Riverside campus is the first phase of a new £228m twin-site supercampus and was delivered on time and within budget. The City Campus site at Cathedral Street in Glasgow’s city centre is currently under construction and is due to open in summer 2016. The supercampus is expected to serve up to 40,000 students and 1200 staff a year – the equivalent of six million users in its lifetime.
Riverside Campus enjoys a stunning waterfront location and features a ten-storey student accommodation block and a landscaped recreation area alongside workshops and classrooms that comprise state-of-the-art technology.
The new marine engineering workshop features Scotland’s first shipping simulation suite, allowing students to experience the bridge of a super tanker, as well as nautical chart rooms and a ferry-sized ship’s engine. The Marine Skills Centre also has its own jetty and free-fall lifeboats.