£4.8m boost for college's construction courses

A Worcestershire college has been awarded £4.8m to expand its construction academy - meaning pupil numbers are set to quadruple in size.

Pershore College will use the government cash to overhaul its training facilities for courses such as carpentry and plumbing, and offer apprenticeships for the first time.

The number of students at its on-site construction academy will increase from 67 to 275.

Sara-Jane Watkins, principal and chief executive, said: "We are absolutely thrilled with this announcement."

The academy opened last September at the Pershore site after the controversial closure of Evesham College, with bosses converting some disused barns into classrooms.

Owner Warwickshire College Group said the money meant it could renovate an old machine workshop, and convert Norbury hostel into an "apprenticeship centre" over the coming months.

Extra courses will be laid on including electrics, painting and decorating, brickwork and groundworks.

Watkins said: "Securing the £4.8m is truly game changing for our Pershore campus, and allows us to respond aggressively to the considerable growth in construction we are seeing across Wychavon and the Worcestershire area."

The existing construction academy offers foundational training, but the funding will mean the curriculum can be upgraded to apprenticeship level.

Watkins added that she had Worcestershire County Council, Wychavon District Council and two MPs Nigel Huddleston and Harriett Baldwin to thank for lobbying the government over the cash.

"Their shared vision has been instrumental in making this a reality," she said.

The money has come from the Department for Education, which has taken into account the housing growth expansion planned across south Worcestershire in the coming years.

That includes the 10,000 homes that are planned to be built in a new town next to Worcestershire Parkway rail station, a development known as Wychavon Town.

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