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Heart of Worcestershire College recently celebrated the opening of their newly refurbished Worcestershire Construction Centre – Alliance House in Redditch.  

Staff, students and external guests were recently welcomed to the Worcestershire Construction Centre – Alliance House, to mark the official opening of HoW College’s newly refurbished construction facilities which include a newly built brick workshop alongside refurbished plastering, plumbing and carpentry workshops within the existing campus. A project that has been funded by Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP).

Back in 2020 HoW College received a £250,000 grant from GBSLEP’s Local Growth Fund towards the redevelopment project which was match funded by the College. This saw a brand-new brick workshop being built on-site. Following additional funding from GBSLEP’s Growing Places Fund, which is delivering a £3m for 11 projects to support young people and clean growth towards net zero targets in the region, the College were then able to refurbish existing plumbing, plastering and carpentry facilities. These will help further develop students' skills and knowledge, preparing them for employment within the construction sector.

The morning started with breakfast and was then followed by speeches highlighting the hard work that has gone into these refurbishments and how they are going to positively impact each student's learning experiences before the official ribbon cutting by Satnam Rana-Grindley, Director of Communications & External Affairs at GBSLEP and Rachel Maclean, MP of Redditch and the Villages. 

Speaking about the project Nicki Williams, Deputy Chief Executive and Vice Principal, Corporate Services, at HoW College said:

“We are delighted to officially open the Worcestershire Construction Centre – Alliance House following the recent refurbishment, thanks to support from Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP. 

Investment in this centre provides an extensive range of industry standard construction training facilities for further education and apprentices and demonstrates our continued commitment to improving skills and training for our learners and apprentices, which is central to boosting economic growth across the county.”

Satnam Rana-Grindley, GBSLEP Director of External Affairs, Communications and Marketing added:

‘’GBSLEP has invested £310,000 into the Redditch Construction Centre and what we’re seeing here is a sustainable and inclusive way to ensure our future workforce is equipped with the skills needed in our labour market. The training and apprenticeships being delivered are offering young people much needed hands-on experience. GBSLEP’s partnership of local authority, business and education leaders ensures that investments like this create tangible benefits for the communities we serve. The skills training here will help to create jobs and drive economic growth in our region.”

Occupations within the Construction industry are set to increase by more than 2% both regionally and nationally in the next five years, with more than 120,000 jobs predicted within the sector in the West Midlands alone (Lightcast, 2022). To find out more about construction courses at HoW College please visit howcollege.ac.uk.