Deal signed to build £35million environmental technologies training centre in Warwickshire

A multi-million pound development agreement has been signed by Warwickshire College and St Modwen, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, for a new centre to train workers in environmental technologies in Warwickshire.

Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM) has approved £6.3 million towards the groundbreaking centre in Rugby.

The Power Academy is part of the new Warwickshire College Rugby Centre and will focus on developing training in green and carbon-friendly power sources.

The wider development will include more than 600 new homes and employment space while the £35 million college is set to receive students in 2010.

The Power Academy will be closely linked to Converteam and Alstom Power and will be at the heart of training technicians for the new generation of power stations, with a focus on turbines and carbon friendly power generation.

Work on the 150,000 sq ft college will start next month, creating hundreds of jobs for construction workers on site and providing a major economic boost to the area.

Warwickshire College Principal Ioan Morgan told guests the college would provide jobs and apprenticeships for local people during its building phase. It would then train young people, and retrain older people who had maybe suffered redundancy, and give all of them the skills they need ready for when the economy recovers in a couple of years.

He said: “This is an economic opportunity for the future of Rugby, it’s about inward investment. When companies come to Rugby they will be greeted by the college up and ready to operate as their training arm, and help them with the skills they need to develop.

“The focus of this college is a commercial partnership with Converteam and Alstom and who can think of a better area to be investing in skills than renewable energy and power.”

He thanked the LSC and AWM for their “fantastic” support and contributions, and the college’s governors who had taken a “leap of faith” in backing the plans while still waiting for a buyer for the Lower Hillmorton Road site.

Karen Yeomans, Corporate Director of Operations for Advantage West Midlands, said: “Not only will the Power Academy be a fantastic addition to the regeneration of Rugby, but it will also have a huge impact on the future of environmental technologies.

"The new generation of power stations and future green power sources will require particular skills and Warwickshire College is putting Rugby right at the very front of these opportunities.

"The investment by Advantage West Midlands will be felt not just in Rugby and Warwickshire but much further and we are delighted that we have managed to make this level of progress."

St Modwen chairman Anthony Glossop said: “We are delighted to have signed this agreement with Warwickshire College which secures an ideal anchor for the regeneration of the former Alstom site in Rugby.

“The success in bringing this project forward would not have been possible without an excellent working relationship with the Borough Council who encouraged our ambitious vision for the regeneration of this key 82 acre site.

“Warwickshire College has shown itself already to be a great partner and in joining Converteam creates a critical mass of development for which the scheme can progress confidently.”

Colin Grimes, Regional Account Manager for the Midlands Region for the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB), the body which works with employers on training in the power industry, said: “We are delighted that the college has gained approval for a new build Power Academy and fully support this initiative and look forward to working in partnership to develop the training needs of all stakeholders within our industry.”

Building work will start on site in February, with students starting at the college in September 2010.

The deal was signed at the site of the current college in Lower Hillmorton Road, Rugby.