New £8.1m training centre opens at City of Wolverhampton College

A new £8.1 million training centre at City of Wolverhampton College was officially opened on Wednesday, September 11, after welcoming students and apprentices for the start of the new academic year.

The purpose-built Advanced Technology & Automotive Centre at the Wellington Road campus, in Bilston, was completed in July and provides state-of-the art teaching and learning facilities for students and apprentices doing automotive and engineering qualifications. 

The two-storey 2,410 square metre centre boasts a range of industry-standard training facilities and equipment, including a 12-bay automotive workshop, drive-in electric vehicle lab containing simulated training boards, four-wheel laser alignment machine, and ADAS and Bosch diagnostic equipment, as well as engineering workshops, fabrication, CAD and welding suites, CNC milling machines, lathes, 3D printers, mechatronic t-rigs and a laser cutter. 

The centre also has a specialist IT suite equipped with the latest learning technology and six general classrooms, with energy efficient lighting and radiant panel heating throughout.  

The launch saw new college principal and chief executive Louise Fall welcome over 100 guests to the centre and commemorative plaques unveiled by Councillor Stephen Simkins, leader of City of Wolverhampton Council and Richard Parker, mayor of the West Midlands and chair of West Midlands Combined Authority. 

Ms Fall said: “The opening of the new Advanced Engineering and Automotive Centre is fantastic news for the students and apprentices who will benefit from the new facilities this academic year, as well as the many hundreds who will study here in the years to come. 

“The centre provides the latest in hands-on learning which really brings lessons to life and will equip them with the skills and knowledge that employers in the automotive and engineering industry require their workforce to have, leading to successful future careers in their chosen sector.  

“We are extremely grateful to City of Wolverhampton Council, West Midlands Combined Authority, our industry partners and all the contractors who worked on the site for their commitment to the development of the centre and ensuring it remained on-track to be completed on schedule in time for the start of the new academic year.” 

Councillor Stephen Simkins, leader of City of Wolverhampton Council said: “The council is fully committed to improving the skills of all our residents, and ensuring local businesses have a highly skilled and qualified workforce to enable them to prosper. 

“High quality teaching and learning can only happen when there are modern, state-of-the-art resources to support it and a lot of hard work has been put in by the council and college, supported by funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority, to make this – phase one of our City Learning Quarter masterplan – a reality. 

“It is wonderful to see the first students already taking advantage of the new facilities to train, not only for jobs in current industries, but also for new and growing sectors. 

“It aligns with Wolverhampton’s strong credentials as a front runner in green industries, which will be further supported by the development of our Green Innovation Corridor as one of the three pillars in the West Midlands Investment Zone.” 

Richard Parker, mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Our region has a long and proud car-making heritage and as we shift towards electric vehicles we need to make sure the next generation has the skills needed to work at the cutting edge of the automotive sector.  

“This fantastic new training facility will work hand in glove with the industry to provide courses that can give people the best possible start to their working lives and the skills to progress in their chosen career – one of the key priorities of my youth plan.” 

The opening of the new centre – which was phase one of the council’s transformational City Learning Quarter plan – has enabled the transfer of all automotive and engineering courses from the Paget Road campus in Compton.

Phase two of the plan will see the opening of a brand new three-storey £61 million campus at the City Learning Quarter in the centre of Wolverhampton which is due to be completed for the 2025/26 academic year and will enable the college to move from its out-dated Paget Road site which has been identified as land to build much-needed housing.