New £6.8m university centre frame complete

College staff were joined by Wakefield MP Mary Creagh, Wakefield Council leader Coun Peter Box, Stephanie Burras from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and other guests for a ‘Topping Out’ ceremony last week.

They signed a beam at the top of the centre and laid bricks to mark the milestone.

College principal Sam Wright said: “It’s great to see our new Advanced Skills and Innovation Centre taking shape and we are all looking forward to its completion next year.

“The new facility will help develop vital high level skills and become a hub for enterprise and entrepreneurship helping train the business leaders of tomorrow.”

Stephanie Burras, Chair of the Employment and Skills Panel of the LEP, which has invested £3.3m in the development, added: “We are supporting this important project to help provide access to better paid, more skilled jobs in the future.

“This initiative has the potential to tackle some of the skills shortages in our key sectors, particularly manufacturing and engineering and align higher-level skills provision with the needs of employers.”

The centre, expected to open next Easter, aims to increase the number of people in the district who have higher level skills and qualifications, in turn supporting economic growth. Courses including engineering, teacher training and web design will be delivered from the facility.

Coun Box said: This centre will bring higher level education into the city centre, enabling our residents to access this closer to home. It will help support our aspirations to improve higher level skills in key growth sectors and attract more skilled jobs into the district.”