The Energy Coast UTC has unveiled new engineering workshops with state-of-the-art equipment.

The new facilities were made possible with support from sponsors, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the University of Cumbria. 

Manual lathes and milling machines will be used exclusively by UTC students and staff.

UTC Principal and CEO Cherry Tingle said: “I am delighted that students now have exclusive use of new industry standard equipment on a daily basis.

“This fantastic facility to benefit West Cumbrian students is just the first step in the UTC development of expanding workshop facilities for West Cumbria.”

She added: “Watch this space for a multi-million-pound build with numerous engineering and construction workshops and CAD/CAM facilities starting soon on the UTC site.”

Vice principal (curriculum and standards) Ian Russell said: “The new workshops are something we have been looking forward to for a very long time. It’s been an accumulation of 18 months of negotiation, hard work and building to get to the point where we now have state-of-the-art facilities for all of our students.”

Mr Russell added: “They are set out to mimic apprenticeship providers which gives our students an edge on the competition and allows them to integrate into apprenticeships more easily.”
Chair of the board of governors, Barbara Stephens unveiled the new facilities at a grand opening on Thursday, November 21.

She said: “I particularly want to pay tribute to Cherry and her team who have worked tremendously hard to get this going.
“It’s involved hours and hours of discussions with the Department for Education and the Education Skills Funding Agency who I would also like to thank for their support.”