On Monday 19 November, the College marked a momentous day in its history with the official opening of our brand new £4.4million engineering centre. The centre was declared open by College Patron, Edwin Booth, at a ceremony attended by a host of invited guests from the local area and industry
The opening of the new £4,4million centre, part-funded by Natwest (£2.9million), marks the next phase in the College’s ongoing £14million investment project. Almost due for completion, the project has seen developments to new and existing facilities, across the College's five North-West centres.
The official opening was overseen by College Patron, Edwin Booth, who declared the new centre opening with a less than traditional, but highly befitting ribbon cutting ceremony…involving two tractors and a digger! Guests enjoyed a tour of the new purpose built new centre, which has been designed with practical and workplace training in mind.
The new centre boasts an impressive list of state of the art facilities, including specialist workshops for agricultural vehicle and construction plant maintenance, specialist welding workrooms, six fully equipped engineering workshops, tool hire facilities, classrooms, and a new increased capacity machine storage centre, which provides a high-tech new home for the College’s fleet of construction, plant and agriculture vehicles.
Myerscough College Principal, Ann Turner, said: “Today is a special day for the College. It [the new engineering centre] represents a vital phase in our ongoing £14million investment program and marks an important moment in Myerscough College’s history. Investing in the new centre demonstrates the College’s commitment to developing talent in the land-based engineering and construction plant industries. The new centre is for the future and so today is about looking ahead.
The College has always focused on and taken pride in our ability to produce students who are trained and ready for the workplace. We hope by providing state-of-the-art training facilities, Myerscough students and apprentices will receive the best possible training and leave College with the skills craved by those in industry. We anticipate that the new centre will help forge even stronger links with industry partners, old and new, and provide even greater career opportunities for our students, both now and in the future.
I’m delighted that so many people visited College to share the day with us. Special thanks go to the College’s Patron, Edwin Booth, who is always so supportive, as well as College Governors and the many friends from the local area and industry who joined us to celebrate this special day in the College’s history.”
The centre also provides a new home to the College’s increasingly successful Construction Plant Academy, which provides industry training and a range of apprenticeship opportunities for the construction and plant maintenance sectors. Apprenticeships are a high growth area for Myerscough College and the new centre will offer more opportunities to expand its operations in these sectors.
In 2013 the College will open a dedicated Construction Plant CPCS Centre, within the new engineering centre, which will focus on delivering its existing Plant Maintenance Apprenticeships whilst expanding its provision by offering a new Construction Plant Operations Apprenticeship - further details to be released soon.
The benefits of the new centre have already been felt by a group of young apprentices from Ainscough Crane Hire Ltd. The new intake of apprentice crane mechanics were selected from over 200 applicants in the summer and have recently completed their first block-release training programme at Myerscough College.
Peter Caney, Assistant Principal Skills & Development at Myerscough College said: "With the opening of the new engineering centre, we are delighted to be announcing a host of exciting new developments within our Construction Plant Academy. The new centre allows us to deliver the highest quality training and will allow us to expand apprenticeship opportunities within the Construction industry. The new facilities created at Myerscough College provide a wonderful opportunity for increased industry engagement through the provision of training, facility-hire or resource sponsorship. The new building reflects the industries it serves so 2013 looks set to be a very exciting year!"