Colchester Institute has received £4million in funding to enhance its teaching facilities for construction students with a two-storey extension.
The extension, to an existing teaching block, will feature a large ground floor construction skills workshop and four large classrooms.
Funded by the Department for Education Construction Skills Capacity Fund, the project will also be supported by £500,000 from the college.
Set to open in early 2028, the new 723 square metre facilities will support skills delivery in priority construction occupations including bricklaying and trowel trades, retrofit and plant driver training, all supporting the college’s recent Technical Excellence College designation.
Gary Horne MBE, Deputy Chief Executive at Colchester Institute, said: “This is a significant investment in the future of the college and in our mission to realise the ambitions set out in our rolling 10-year master plan for Colchester Campus.
“As the largest provider of construction training in the East of England, this funding allows us to create even more capacity and the right environments needed to deliver high-quality education for current and future generations of students.
“The project also provides scope to develop new curriculum including retrofit installer courses, and others as we pivot towards the use of more sustainable construction technologies.”
The college’s funding application was centred around its ability to support the aspirations of the Modern Industrial Strategy.
The additional classrooms will support the expansion of groundworks training at the nearby infrastructure projects of Sizewell C and the Lower Thames crossing, among others.
Another driver for the project is to support the skills needed to meet the challenge of significant local house-building in the region, including at the proposed Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community.
The new building will be adjacent to Block L at the back of the Colchester Campus which itself is currently undergoing a major refurbishment.
It will be built with sustainability in mind, with the college aiming for Passivhaus levels of energy-efficiency with considerable insulation, electric heating, solar panels and rainwater harvesting.
