Work is under way on a new £450,000 agricultural engineering workshop to benefit students at Easton College and meet the increasing demands of the region's farming industry.
Mike Gamble, chairman of the agricultural college’s governors, marked the official start to the project by turning the first earth, with the help of a mechanical digger.
Visiting governors watched the ceremony before contractors got to work on the 24x14m workshop which should be completed by May and then equipped with advanced and sophisticated new machinery ready for the new intake of students in September.
The project is among £21m worth of developments to improve the college over the last past years.
Clive Bound, college vice principal, said they worked closely with industry to provide courses with a content and structure which met the needs of new entrants.
"Agricultural engineering student numbers have outgrown our current facility and this new workshop will be very welcome. It is based on a modern agricultural dealership workshop and was designed for us by workshop managers from local dealers."
He said that the new premises meant they could add to the 110 full time students and 26 apprentices presently studying agricultural engineering and were looking to draw youngsters from further afield in the eastern region.
Andrew Hardy, contracts manager for construction company Chalcroft, said they were delighted to be selected to build the new workshop and hoped to have it ready for the college's open day on June 5.
http://www.easton-college.ac.uk
