Learning Skills
is the Key to Economic Recovery

15 May 2009

Learning Skills is the Key to Economic Recovery said the chief executive of the North West Development Agency today. Steven Broomhead was the guest speaker at the formal opening of the £12.9 million redevelopment of Kendal College phase 1, in Milnthorpe Road.

Chairman of Governors Bill Broekhuizen, Principal Graham Wilkinson and Chief Executive of the North West Development Agency Steven Broomhead

Before unveiling the commemorative plaque, Mr Broomhead said the new buildings were an inspiration to the learning environment for Cumbria.
“Skills are the key to economic recovery and this investment will encourage more and more people to learn and improve themselves. This excellent college is a beacon for that recovery and should be something you are all proud of in this community,” he told more than 200 guests at the ceremony.
The renovation and expansion of the college, the first since its original development in 1971, has transformed the look of the buildings and enhanced the ability of the college to provide training in key skills and qualifications, and reach out to the business community by offering conference and dining facilities.

All of this has been made possible with the aid of a grant and substantial support from the Learning & Skills Council, together with the College taking out a bank loan.

The guests were stakeholders in the college, including supporters and companies for whom it provides training, contractors and governors.
Hotels, hairdressers and food manufacturers rubbed shoulders with representatives of the National Health Service, local councils, the Learning Skills Council, and Cumbria, Lancaster and Central Lancashire universities, with whom the college provides foundation degrees.
Guests were greeted in the brand new conference facilities with canapés before watching, by audio-visual links on four eight-foot wall mounted screens, the unveiling of a slate plaque by Mr Broomhead in the foyer.
They then broke into groups to be taken on a tour of the new facilities before a buffet lunch in the college’s new cafe with its balcony with a view to Kendal Castle.

Guests were shown the new kitchens, hairdressing salons, reception and main entrance, a 450-seat refectory, and new IT suites.
They also saw the new separate construction and heritage centre which will train skilled plumbers, electrical engineers, joinery and carpentry, as well as teaching traditional skills such as stonework and furniture making.
A green “wall” of CO2-consuming ivy facing Milnthorpe Road, the green sedum roof on the heritage construction centre and solar panel heating are among environmental features guests were shown.

The grand opening followed staff celebrations on, Friday, May 8 and a student event on Wednesday, May 13, partly to thank those at the college who have had to work round the redevelopment.

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