The capital bid was submitted following completion of a comprehensive accommodation strategy for the Walford site, which identified the need for additional capacity to meet growing numbers of land-based students at the College.
The cornerstone of the investment will be to bring back into use a range of listed stable buildings as the headquarters for the growing College’s apprenticeship operations. The proposed Rural Skills Centre will provide office space for up to twenty staff plus five additional classrooms along with a large multi-purpose workshop area to accommodate rural skills training for employers, adult learners and young people.
The College is about to appoint a design team to start work this November on the detailed design and planning application, with a view to starting work on site in Spring 2013. Meetings have been set-up with representatives from Shropshire Council and Baschurch Parish Council to keep them informed of the plans and take account of local views.
Rural Enterprise Boost
Alongside the Rural Skills Centre, the scheme provides for conversion of the former Walford Cannery building (shown below) to create a Rural Enterprise Hub aimed at supporting and promoting self-employment and small business start-ups. The College is working with the Shropshire and Telford Young Britain team to provide an inspirational venue for young people thinking of starting their own business, with a particular focus on rural enterprise. News of this project is particularly timely with Global Enterpreneurship Week starting next Monday.
Taken together with the planned expansion and modernisation of Walford Farm, which is already out for consultation with the planning authorities, these developments will transform the northern part of the Walford campus.
Andrew Tyley, College Principal & Chief Executive is delighted with the news from the Skills Funding Agency: “Our funding bid was pretty ambitious and provides a fantastic opportunity to bring back into use some wonderful buildings which have been sat unused for many years. We are hoping we can start work on the farm developments straight after Christmas and to have the majority of the teaching facilities finished by the end of next year. It will take the total capital investment in Walford since merger in 2001 to over £15m and provide some of the very best land-based facilities in the region”
“The whole emphasis of our bid was about promoting employment for young people. With these new facilities we will be able to equip more young people with the skills they need; expand the range and coverage of our successful apprenticeships programmes and increase the proportion of young people entering self-employment. The expansion plans in themselves will create five new jobs over the next two years, with the infrastructure works providing a welcome boost to the local construction industry”.
Governors at the College are equally delighted with the funding news. Gillian Richards, Chair of Governors notes: “This is set to be the biggest single capital grant the College has received and will give an important boost to our land-based centre of excellence at Walford. I have no doubt that these fantastic listed buildings will become a focal point for rural skills training in Shropshire and beyond.”
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