In the early 1980s, the University of Salford was the first HE institution to go "on the road" with the conversion of two double decker buses, designed as mobile resources to be used for exhibitions, demonstrations, training and seminars.

CCET was contracted to manage this program as well as develop new courses that would enhance the University's presence in the educational marketplace. Over the next ten years these units worked all over the United Kingdom and Eire. They were invited into the grounds of Buckingham Palace and to 10 Downing Street.

Two more units were later converted to extend the work undertaken by CCET. These worked primarilary in the area of Design & Technology Education. As a result of developing and delivering a number of technology courses in Eire, CCET was invited to introduce and promote new teaching materials at exhibitions in Cork, Limerick and Dublin.

Work with the National Playbus Association also provided a wider social dimension to this activity.

Designing for Others

As a result of this extensive experience of mobile projects nation-wide, members of the Centre have been regularly called upon to advise on the establishment of mobile resources, and to design and manage conversion programmes for other interested bodies.

Working in collaboration with GM Engineering (Stockport), PMT (Stoke), East Midlands Motor Services (Chesterfield), Working Wheels (North West), and the National Playbus Association (Bristol), CCET developed vehicles for:

• Cheltenham Borough Recreation Department's toy library and playbus to be used six days a week for a range of pre-school activities
• Bolton Council's pre-school resource
• Stockport Council's mobile toy library
• Instant Muscle (an Edinburgh-based consultancy group) - mobile office, counselling suite and training workshop used to train young unemployed people in the rural areas of Northumberland
• MANCAT's double-decker bus, to be used for training facilities and marketing the college generally
• Arrhus Business College, Denmark - a mobile information centre working throughout the islands of northern Denmark, designed to encourage young people into higher education

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