Cardiff and Vale College’s plans for Advanced Technology Centre at Cardiff Airport approved

Cardiff and Vale College’s plans for a state-of-the-art Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) at Cardiff Airport have been given the green light.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council has approved the College’s planning application for the ATC. Following on from the Council’s approval of plans for a new CAVC campus on Barry Waterfront, the news represents a major step forward in the College’s plans for a £100m investment in education and training in the Vale, which is being delivered through the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme.

Based by CAVC’s renowned International Centre for Aerospace Training (ICAT) at Cardiff Airport, which will continue to operate, the 13,000sqm Advanced Technology Centre will accommodate nearly 2,000 learners and over 100 staff.

The courses at this campus will be focussed on supporting economic development and meeting the skills needs of employers in advanced technologies and green skills – for both the emerging renewable technologies and the retrofit skills needed to meet Net Zero Carbon targets.

The campus will include an advanced composites manufacturing facility, state of the art robotics and mechatronics labs and a “green skills house”.  Students will use Virtual Reality and AI and have access to rapid prototyping, 3D metal printers and autonomous drones to support their studies. Automotive students will work with both electric and hydrogen vehicles.

As well as full time courses to give students an entry pathway into these industries, there will be apprenticeships and part-time courses providing employees and their employers the opportunity to upskill their workforce. Higher Education courses will also be offered, including courses run in collaboration with university partners.

In addition to providing new skills for the current workforce, the quality and hi-tech nature of the campus should encourage young people to aspire to a career in advanced technologies.

The campus is being designed to be the first Net Zero Carbon in operation Further Education campus in Wales and will itself become a truly sustainable learning environment that will bring substantial community benefits and become a long-term asset for the development of the Enterprise Zone.

Subject to Welsh Government approval of the College’s Full Business Case, construction work is expected to begin at the ATC site in 2025, with the campus due to open in 2027.

Cardiff and Vale College Group Chief Executive Mike James said: “We are delighted that the Vale of Glamorgan has approved of the next stage of our investment in education and training in the region.

“It is with real pleasure that I can say that we are delivering on our commitment to provide first-class teaching and learning environments for learners and the community in the Vale of Glamorgan. This Advanced Technology Centre will also cater to the current and future needs of employers across the Vale and the wider Capital Region.

“We will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government, Vale of Glamorgan Council and Welsh Education Partnership Company to ensure this project will be the success that I know it will.”

Cllr Lis Burnett, Leader of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, said:

“This is wonderful news for the Vale of Glamorgan. The Advanced Technology Centre at Cardiff Airport will establish a second centre of international excellence here in the Vale.

“The aerospace centre which it will sit alongside has already done much to drive economic development in the Vale. Pioneering even more technologies here in the Vale will only add to this as well as giving local people a pathway into highly skilled jobs.”

The two new campuses are set to replace CAVC’s existing Barry Campus on Colcot Road.