BUDDING builders and painters in York have received a boost after a new centre aimed at teaching them skills for their future careers was given the go-ahead.

Permission has been granted by City of York Council for a purpose-built education base dedicated to construction trades to be created at Huntington School.

The facility will boast a BTEC course for pupils aged 14 to 16 from all corners of the city and concentrate on areas such as bricklaying, painting and decorating, plumbing, joinery and electrical engineering.

The scheme is designed to allow teenagers to get involved in learning about such skills at an early age and act as a catalyst for them to ultimately continue their studies at York College. It will have space for up to 30 students at a time and operate during Huntington School’s normal hours.

They will be housed within a single-storey building on the school’s grounds, next to its library, which will have desk areas complete with computer equipment and a fully-equipped workshop zone.

The council’s adult and community services section, which submitted the application, said it would boost the school’s own curriculum activities but also provide facilities for other schools to use.

Maggie Tansley, who heads the authority’s planning and resources department, said the project was driven by a need for high-quality vocational education.

She said: “In partnership with York College, it will be able to deliver high-quality training for all the schools in the city and act as a platform for students to progress to higher levels of qualification.”

The building will allow 15 students to use a learning room and 15 more to use the workshop at a time. A date for the centre to open has yet to be confirmed.