York College: Construction and engineering centre opens

Lord Mayor of York, Chris Cullwick, cut the ribbon at York College’s new Construction and Engineering Centre Extension and declared its “vitally important role” in addressing the issue.

 A £2.6 million contribution from the Department for Education’s T Level Capacity Fund helped towards the cost of the building.

It was completed within its 38-week timeframe and on budget, a York College spokesperson said.

T Levels are the technical-based qualifications introduced by the government in 2020 as an alternative post-16 educational option to A Levels and include 315 work placement hours.

Former T Level student Sam Stokes, York College acting chief executive and principal Ken Merry, head of engineering and digital technologies Lisa Wheeler, Lord Mayor Chris Cullwick, Lady Mayoress Joy Cullwick and T Level student Callum Stephenson (Image: York College)

The centre contains a practical workshop for brickwork and joinery students, a Computer Aided Design (CAD) Suite and a multi-functional Engineering and Product Design Workshop for 3D modelling and prototyping.

A focus has been put on the building being a carbon neutral facility.

Solar photovoltaic roof panels, air-source heat pumps and natural ventilation heat recovery units all contributing to this aim.

The Mayor tries out a VR set in the new engineering lab (Image: York College)

A York College spokesperson said the building and state-of-the-art technology will allow the education provider to teach more students and offer additional courses in the future.

The Lord Mayor of York previously served as a master of the York Guild of Building and as chair on the City of York Council’s Planning Committee.

He also worked at York College delivering chaplaincy support to staff and students.

The new brickwork facility (Image: York College)

Cllr Cullwick was taken on a tour of the extension and even tried on a virtual reality headset that students are using to replicate real-life work scenarios.

“The need for skilled construction labour is growing year on year and that’s not going to change in the future,” he said.

York College (Image: Google)

“Artificial Intelligence won’t be building our schools, hospitals and bridges, so it’s important that people are trained and retrained in these skills and that’s where York College’s Construction and Engineering Centre is playing such a vitally important role, especially as we transition towards a more sustainable way of building and living.”

Read next:

• Meet the York entrepreneur who faced the TV dragons
• York braces for flooding after snow and rain
• York bucks national trend as 'one of best' performers for rising living standards

Hobson & Porter were the project’s main contractors and some of the college’s construction students did work experience placements on site during the build.

An example of the college’s new state-of-the-art equipment (Image: York College)

On the new facility’s benefits, York College and University Centre acting chief executive and Principal Ken Merry said: “We have engaged with local, regional and national employers and been deliberate in the state-of-the-art equipment that we have chosen to install so that it directly reflects the industry our students and apprentices will be processing into.

“They will get to work in environments that directly mirror the industry, meaning they will have more transferable skills that reflect modern methods of construction and engineering to ensure they are employment ready when they have completed their learning.”