Students could soon be going back to school as a deal to reopen a landmark building in Bordon is close.

Hopes are growing that post-16 education will return to the Future Skills Centre later this year.

Hampshire County Council has approved the re-letting of the building which closed last year after reporting more than £100,000 in losses.

They’re now settling detailed terms of the new lease and the simultaneous surrender of the current lease.

The latter may be required to enable the new tenant and “educational skills provider” to commence occupation ahead of the 2025-26 academic year in September.

The announcement backs up claims made by county councillor and Whitehill Town Council leader, Andy Tree, during the Annual Town Meeting that negotiations had begun for the £3.8million building.

The county council has declined to comment further as negotiations continue, but it is anticipated that more information will be available “in the next few weeks”.

The FSC opened in 2017 and was leased by HCC to the Basingstoke College of Technology.

The centre offered training in a range of construction trades with a view of giving students practical experience on developments around Whitehill & Bordon, but student numbers fell after the pandemic, with poor public transport links being cited in its demise.

“It was a lovely idea – training people to work for companies building homes in the area,” said the college’s principal, Anthony Bravo, at the time.

“But Covid came along and destroyed everything. The site has very poor transport links, which didn’t help.”

Just 29 students out of a possible 272 remained when the doors shut last June with the centre losing money “hand over fist” before the doors permanently shut.

In May 2024, Hampshire County Council leader Nick Adams-King said “informal” conversations were being had with other providers for the same service.