Based in North East of England, Northumberland College has officially broken ground on the £2.5m science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) centre at its Ashington campus, scheduled to be completed by summer 2017.
The new centre will be home to specialist science and technology workshops with dedicated facilities that will include an ISO Class 7 (10,000) cleanroom, digital 3D imagery equipment, nanotechnology, microscopes, specialist chemicals and fab labs where budding product designers and entrepreneurs can access the latest in digital fabrication equipment for prototyping.
Two North East based firms have been appointed by the College to complete the re-development.
Project managers Summers-Inman, which offers project and cost management services, along with development monitoring and building surveying.
ESH Build is one of the largest building contractors in Northern England, with a wide range of clients in both the public and private sector, ranging from education to health.
Paul Redman, divisional director of Esh Build, part of Esh Group, said: 'Building this type of specialist space for the education sector is where our strengths lie. The new Northumberland College STEM Centre will be an asset to the local community.'
Principal and Chief Executive of Northumberland College, Marcus Clinton said: 'This is a very exciting time for the College and we are very pleased to have appointed Esh Build as the contractors for our STEM Centre who have worked on many major projects around the north.'
Marcus continued: 'There are skills shortages within science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) so we will be adding new courses that are designed with feedback from employers and cover fabrication, processing, IT and digital, robotics and hydraulics, this training will benefit our students and the local economy.'
Proposed timescales include the building's foundations being laid before Christmas with building competition set for the end of July, ready for occupation by mid-August in time for the new cohort of students starting in September.
The new science and technology centre will also provide a base for maths and digital courses at the College.
The project received £2.3m funding from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership's (North East LEP's) Local Growth Fund.