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The centre, which has been built on land owned by Stainless Metalcraft, will be managed and operated by West Suffolk College, part of the Eastern Colleges Group, providing introductory to Higher Level apprenticeships for between 80 and 130 students a year. The range of courses will be informed by demand from local businesses, with priority areas including advanced manufacturing and engineering, as well as a focus on future skills training including robotics, automation and composite materials manufacturing.

Martin Lawrence, commercial director at Stainless Metalcraft, said: “Having trained our own apprentices for over 100 years and with over 50% of our employees being home grown, Metalcraft is a keen advocate of apprenticeships as an accessible route into long-term, rewarding careers.

“As a former apprentice myself, creating opportunities for the next generation is a real passion, both for me and the business as a whole. It has been exciting to see the North Cambridgeshire Training Centre take shape over the last few months and we’re inspired by the potential it holds to help local people embark on rewarding careers in the engineering sector.”

West Suffolk College will be responsible for the management of the centre; providing technical, virtual and hands-on training, as well as building relationships with local employers and the community.

Laraine Moody, Principal Strategic Growth & Partnerships at WSC, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the welcome we have received from local businesses, education and communities. There is clearly significant demand for high quality training to be delivered in Fenland and the take up of Apprenticeships and professional development courses to start in September is amazing. We are continuing to respond to demand with new courses being continuously developed and we can’t wait to open officially”

The NCTC is designed to fill a gap in the vocational training offer in the North Cambridgeshire Fens, creating opportunities to up-skill local people and deliver a workforce ready to step into careers in growth industries over the coming years.

Stephen Barclay MP, said: “There can be no better example of what the Government means by levelling up than the £3.2 million new state of the art skills centre nearing completion in Chatteris. It was great to visit and see the new building first hand, having been on site when the work first started.

The new skills centre hosted on the Metalcraft site will enable a significant expansion in the number of apprenticeships offered by Metalcraft, who have a long-standing high reputation for skills training, and it will also enable a wide range of other training courses benefiting people in Chatteris and across North East Cambridgeshire. This is great news for local jobs, and will help businesses win new contracts if they have the skilled workforce to deliver them.

This major new facility is also timely as the Government will soon bring forward it’s lifelong learning scheme to better help people gain new skills throughout their career, not just when they first start work. A huge well done to Martin Lawrence, Austen Adams, Neil Kirby from Metalcraft and Laraine Moody from West Suffolk College amongst those involved in getting this fantastic scheme delivered.”

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Business Board provided £3.16m to build the NCTC through the Local Growth Fund.