Building for growth is the name of the game

The UK is desperate for anything that delivers more skilled staff for the construction industry. Ian Mean, Business West's Gloucestershire director, is a champion of a new development in Cheltenham.

I go to a lot of business events, but few excite me like the official opening of Gloucestershire College’s new £5 million sustaInable construction training centre, writes Ian Mean, Business West’s Gloucestershire director.

Yes, it’s part of the college’s Cheltenham campus but a vitally needed training centre which will serve the whole of Gloucestershire at a critical time for our infrastructure development.

Building for growth is the name of the game.

This new centre is sited cheek by jowl with the Golden Valley digital/cyber project and expands the provision with additional training in electrical, plumbing and carpentry.

It will be an essential cog in Gloucestershire’s wheel of growth and skills.

And that growth will not happen unless we have far more skilled young people like these local students taking those important jobs and not leaving the county.

Nationally, the UK faces a huge funding gap on capital projects according to research from EY I read at the weekend which saId that the cou…