East Riding College’s new Beverley campus has been officially opened by Alex Denholm MBE, the College’s longest serving governor.
The £14m building, part of the Flemingate shopping and leisure development, opened to students in September following a 14-month construction programme.
Today’s ceremony was an opportunity for a number of invited guests to see the new building at work and to tour its state-of-the-art facilities, as well as sampling a buffet prepared by catering students.
Mr Denholm said:
“I’m honoured to be asked to perform this ceremony and to commemorate the opening of our new Beverley campus, which follows the completion of a new campus in Bridlington only six years ago.
“I would like to congratulate everyone who was involved in the planning and construction of this wonderful learning environment, and all those who worked so hard this summer to get it ready for the new academic year.”
Principal Derek Branton said:
“The official opening ceremony was an opportunity formally to mark the completion of a project which will provide superb education and skills training facilities for young people, adults and businesses in our area.”
“We were able to thank everyone who contributed to the new campus, from the governors and staff to the contractors and funding bodies. I was delighted to see so many partners and supporters of the College joining us to celebrate the fantastic new accommodation we now have for learning in Beverley.”
“The students and staff at East Riding College are rightly very proud of the new campus and we are looking forward to providing high quality further and higher education from here for many years to come.”
The new Beverley campus features 30 teaching rooms with specialist IT and engineering facilities and a large Learning Resource Centre with access to a wide range of digital and printed reference materials.
It also features a commercial frontage with industry standard hairdressing and beauty therapy salons, a restaurant and a travel agency, which provides realistic training facilities for students and is open to paying members of the public.
One key element is the Energy Technology Centre, which provides facilities for small to medium enterprises in the quickly developing renewable energies sector and provides links to training across a range of business, energy and environmental services.
