Weston College has won £8.8m from the Department for Education to expand its South West Skills Campus on Locking Road, with heat pump, drone and BIM training.

Weston College has secured £8.8 million of government money to expand its South West Skills Campus on Locking Road in Weston-super-Mare. The college calls it one of the largest capital investments in its history.

The money comes from the Department for Education, through two pots: the Post-16 Capacity Fund and the Construction Skills Capacity Fund. The college announced the award on 13 October (Weston College).

What the money pays for

The campus is the college’s centre for technology, construction and engineering (Weston College, South West Skills Campus). The college says the funding will create extra capacity there and improve the existing buildings, so it can take on more learners, apprentices and adults.

It will upgrade the workshops for four trades:

  • carpentry and joinery
  • brickwork
  • plumbing
  • electrical installation

It will also add training in newer areas of construction:

  • digital construction and building information modelling (BIM)
  • drone surveying
  • low-carbon technology, including heat pumps, renewable energy systems and retrofit

Part of the money goes on the campus itself. The college says it will invest in more energy-efficient infrastructure and low-carbon technology on site.

What the college and the MP said

Pat Jones, principal and chief executive of Weston College Group, called the award “transformational for Weston College, our learners, our town and the wider region”. She said it would “create more opportunities for local people to access outstanding education and training”.

Dan Aldridge, the MP for Weston-super-Mare, said the money would “expand opportunities for post-16 students, apprentices and adult learners”. He called it “a real vote of confidence in Weston”.

What the college has not said yet

The announcement gives no timetable for the building work. It does not say how many extra places the expansion will create, or when the new courses start. We are asking the college and will add the answers here.

The same week: an airport-style classroom

On 23 October the college opened a Travel and Tourism Careers Excellence Hub with Bristol Airport. The airport has fitted out the college’s travel and tourism rooms to look like the passenger journey, with airport-branded installations and real operational equipment (Weston College).

The college says the partnership is already producing jobs. Earlier this year:

  • 16 of its travel and tourism students went straight into work at Bristol Airport, with Jet2, Swissport and easyJet
  • four were offered customer service agent roles with Swissport after interviews held on campus

What it means for you

If you are leaving school, looking for an apprenticeship or retraining as an adult, construction is where the extra places will be. Heat pump and retrofit skills are the newer end of that, and the college is now building them in alongside the traditional trades.

The timing matters locally. North Somerset’s latest claimant count shows young people are the only age group where claims are rising: our breakdown of the September figures has the detail.

Course details and applications are on the Weston College website, or by phone on 01934 411 411.