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Wilten Construction held a Breaking Ground Ceremony this morning with Leicester College to mark the commencement of works on site at Leicester College’s Abbey Park Campus for their brand new Aeronautical and Space Technology Training Centre.
When complete, the site will house industry standard aeronautical and space facilities in a learning environment that will inspire the next generation of engineering professionals. The project aims to:
Address the skills shortage in the aeronautical and aerospace industries by enabling the delivery of Level 4 and 5 higher education technical and apprenticeship programmes
Support Leicester’s push for growth, with Leicester being recognised as one of the largest and most connected areas for space related activities in the UK.
£5.4M of secured funding was received from the Office for Students and Leicester College to build and equip this new aeronautical/advanced engineering training facility at Abbey Park Campus.
The Abbey Park Campus currently features four floors of modern teaching and learning facilities including a 140-seat drama studio, science labs, dance studio, music studios, language lab, dental and childcare training facilities. It is also home to the college’s Motor Vehicle Engineering Workshop Building which is located immediately adjacent to our site for the Aeronautical and Space Technology Training Centre. This new centre will expand engineering at the Abbey Park Campus through a new 9,744ft2, glass-fronted technical lab adjacent to existing engineering facilities.
Wilten are working in collaboration with Leicester College and the professional team, Moss Architecture and Dice Consulting Engineers, to deliver this project which will run over a 46-week programme and will be complete in Q3 2025.
To achieve the requirements of Leicester College and other stakeholders, the build phase will involve:
Supporting Leicester College to achieve a reduction in predicted carbon footprint on the project and in the ‘Race to Zero’
Achieving the required BREEAM rating of Very Good; a Leicester College Climate Change requirement
Delivering a quality, state of the art development that creates a high quality, well designed and constructed building that is in keeping with other buildings on the college campus
Involving local people within Leicester, providing access to employment, training, skills development, and careers guidance
Wilten and Leicester College are already working closely together to develop objectives for maximising social and local economic value for the Leicester Community. Together, we will create jobs and provide training and work experience opportunities. This will include:
Providing positions for local people
Supporting Leicester College’s Construction Students in their learning to develop the skills capacity of the construction sector and skills amongst young people for the future
Providing construction training and employment opportunities to benefit the delivery of this project and future schemes in and around Leicester
This project enables the existing relationship between Wilten and Leicester College to grow for the benefit of local people, evidenced by our previous social value activity in the area. Together, we have engaged students from the college for a number of key initiatives including a Work Experience project for Level 2 Construction Students, and site visits to our Space City (Docks, 3, 4 & 5 Pioneer Park) and Ian Marlow projects where students experienced the construction industry in a real-life setting. Working in collaboration with the college, we will continue to support students by offering skills and careers support and will inspire students to take up training and work experience opportunities.
Naim Basha Director / Co-founder for Wilten Construction said:
“It is our pleasure to grow our collaborative relationship with Leicester College for the construction of this advanced and high-tech facility. We are committed to delivering the highest health and safety, environmental, quality, and sustainability standards throughout the construction process and look forward to working closely with Leicester College and all stakeholders involved in this project. Our team is enthusiastic to embark on this project and contribute to Leicester College’s growth and development to support and inspire the next generation of engineering professionals.”
Keep an eye out for more project updates over the coming weeks as we watch this innovative state-of-the-art building come to life.
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