Access Creative College opens brand-new esports facility in London
8 December 2023
Even if you have not been an avid follower of esports in the UK for long, chances are that you have heard of Access Creative College (ACC). That’s because ACC is the largest independent training provider of the United Kingdom in the areas of music, media, games, and computing. Since recently, the group has also added full-time vocational esports courses to its offer in the form of a Pearson’s Level 3 BTEC in Esports Management course. On top of that, Access Creative College has recently opened a brand-new esports facility in Aldgate, London.
Esports on campus
The new esports facility is part of the larger ACC campus in Aldgate and is designed to host more than 750 students in the main classroom. Besides this fully equipped classroom, the esports facility also boasts two scrim rooms and was fitted with some state-of-the-art tech and peripherals. These include Overclockers for custom-built gaming PCs featuring AMD7 7700 processors and RTX 4060TI graphics cards, amongst other specs. Apart from the actual esports training facilities, the ACC London Campus has also opened a fully fitted event space that will serve the esports community as well. It can be used to host esports tournaments, for example, and other competitive gaming events.
“Our new esports facility is a testament to our commitment to offering the best possible education and opportunities to our students”, says Nathan Loughran, Director of ACC London Campus, “We are thrilled to provide students and the gaming community with a facility that rivals the most advanced educational gaming spaces in the world. This campus is not just about gaming; it’s about innovation, community, and fostering the next generation of esports professionals across all aspects of the industry, from competitive gaming to event production and digital art”.
ACC Esports Level 3 BTEC
The BTEC, which stands for Business and Technology Education Council, Level 3 diploma is a Further Education qualification and vocational qualification taken in the United Kingdom. It’s organised and awarded by Pearson and represents an equivalent to A-Levels. Access Creative College was already offering this course at several of its other campuses, including X in Birmingham. The Level 3 BTEC in Esports is the fruit of a partnership between Pearson and the British Esports Federation, with a focus on students aged 16 to 18.
ACC teams up with Fnatic
Shortly before the opening of the new esports facility in Aldgate, Access Creative College announced another exciting development as well. The organisation has teamed up with Fnatic, a professional esports organisation from London, and one of the biggest and most successful esports organisations of the past years. The collaboration is meant to support the education of ACC’s esports students by providing them with “engaging webinars featuring industry-leading experts and enlightening guest speakers”. On top of that, ACC students get access to the exclusive Fnatic Discord channel and offline networking events, as well as exclusive discounts and the chance the win fantastic prizes.
Image credit: Access Creative College