A COLLEGE establishing a £40 million training centre at Berkeley’s nuclear power station gave employers in the area a sample of what they have to offer.

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College’s plans for their Berkeley GREEN University Technical College were showcased to businesses across the region.

The college, which has a 999 year lease on several buildings on the site, were urging employers to offer advice and suggestions on the vocational education of the students.

The college confirmed they had received funding for the new campus for engineers in July last year.

Their project will help educate up to 600 14 to 19-year-old students in digital technologies and advanced manufacturing.

Stroud District Councillor for the Berkeley ward Liz Ashton said: “This is the most exciting thing to happen to Berkeley in 50 years.”

On Friday, January 23, scores of local employers from Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire turned out to learn more about the centre and give their own input on the college’s approach.

The message delivered was that SGS cannot work in isolation and must utilise outside input to ensure its young apprentices are well equipped for the working world.

Employers and other guests were brought into a theatre area where presentations were made by key players in the development of the new facility.

SGS College principal and CEO Kevin Hamblin said: “Very little will be possible without collaboration. We’ve got to work together.

“But it all starts with a vision. It all starts with a can-do attitude. We can only spend the money once and we want to spend it in a way that links back to a conversation we all had."

Chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society Phil Spiers spoke of the significant role STEM will play in the future, and our need to train young people in the field.

“We need more engineers, we need more designers, more innovators,” he said. “The plans here in Berkeley are part of a wider movement.”

The aim is to retain as much of the old site as possible, keeping an industrial feel to the campus and using rooms that are already available for workshops.

As well as fitting college’s vision of a vocational training centre, elements of the nuclear station will also be kept in an effort to hold onto the site’s heritage.

Mr Hamblin said: “We think this site has a story to tell, and a lot of the people that worked here want to tell that story.

“I think we’ve got to have this as a destination for primary and secondary school children, both to tell them about its history, and enthuse them about what will be happening at the centre at that time.”

The event, though directed at employers, was not short in the number of politicians in attendance. Stroud MP Neil Carmichael was present at the event, as well as Labour candidate David Drew and Liberal Democrat candidate Adrian Walker-Smith.

Mr Carmichael has been involved with the project since the offset, first proposing the idea in 2010.

He said: "It was a great pleasure to attend the first SGS Berkeley GREEN employer stakeholders meeting.

I am very pleased to see the good progress being made to turn this site into the technical college for young people that I had initially envisioned back in 2010. This is an exciting project which is moving forwarded positively.”

The centre at the nuclear laboratories is currently set for completion in late 2016.