Fareham College has submitted a planning application today (March 4) for a new £12m Centre of Excellence for Engineering, Manufacturing and Advanced Skills Technology (CEMAST) at the former Daedalus site at Lee-on-the-Solent.
An artist impression of Fareham College’s new Centre of Excellence for Engineering
If approved, the proposed centre would house open plan engineering workshops, classrooms, a learning resource centre and café, as well as conference and exhibition space for local employers and is scheduled to open in September 2014.
It would provide training for around 400 students in courses ranging from Foundation Level to Higher National Diplomas, if councillors give the scheme the go-ahead.
Peter Marsh, Deputy Principal of Fareham College, said: “Our dynamic new centre combines an exciting frontage onto Broom Way, with state-of-the-art learning spaces and facilities to support the wider business community.
“The feedback on our plans from our recent public consultation was fantastic. Submission of this planning application marks a major milestone in our vision of helping to support a sustainable future for the advanced engineering and manufacturing sector in the Solent area.”
The centre will provide industry standard training facilities to support manufacturing skills with a focus on aeronautical, marine, electrical, automotive and mechanical engineering. The move has been supported by an agreement which sees the college take eight acres of land from the Homes and Communities Agency, which owns much of the Enterprise Zone site.
If planning permission is given, work on the site is due to start in late summer and completed in early summer 2014.
The new building has been designed by Hampshire based Perkins Ogden Architects. Architect Nick Collett said: “As the first major development on the Solent Enterprise Zone at Daedalus, we hope the CEMAST building will act as both a gateway and a high quality design benchmark for the ongoing development of this remarkable site.”
Ken Thornber, Leader of Hampshire County Council, which is funding £3m of the construction costs, said: “We are proud to support Fareham College in this innovative facility which will help provide a route into skilled engineering employment for young people and adults in this part of Hampshire.”
Gary Jeffries, director of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which is responsible for delivering the Enterprise Zone, added: “It is incredibly exciting to think that, if the planning application is approved, we will have a training centre that is dedicated to skills relevant to the local economy on the site by next summer. The services and facilities it is set to provide will be of real benefit not just to school leavers, but to businesses on the site.”