Abingdon and Witney College is committed to Sustainable Construction

Our new £3.5 million Green Construction Centre in Abingdon is the latest facility we’ve invested in to meet the needs of skills training in the sector.

Our new Green Centre will open in June, offering apprenticeships and industry training to learners of all ages, as well as:

• First class facilities

• Genuine partnership working with the sector through engagement with employers, suppliers and wider interest groups/ stakeholders

• Working with awarding bodies to develop new qualifications

As a college we like to ensure we can adapt and evolve in line with both local and economic demands. It’s our intention that the new Centre will not only teach innovative techniques to the industry but use advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to supplement the tried and tested approach to vocational education.

Our Bicester Construction Centre which opened in March 2021 and houses a dedicated ACS Gas Training Centre offers a range of skills development opportunities, from apprenticeship training to professional skills updating. This is complemented by our Centre in Witney, which has already established a good reputation for delivering vocational skills to the sector in: Carpentry & Joinery, Electrical and Plumbing.

With Abingdon in the south of the county, Witney in the west, and Bicester in the north, we are well placed to cater to the needs of the construction industry across Oxfordshire.

OxLEP has part-funded the new build projects and sees Construction as a sector with both growth and skills shortages within the county and beyond.

Career changing opportunities

We’re very interested to talk to anyone with skills in plumbing or the construction industry in general about joining us to pass on their expertise.

We’ve often helped people to change career. To give something back! To utilise the skills they have and pass them on to the next generation.

Don’t worry if you do not hold a teaching qualification, the College can support you with to achieve this! We support individuals who are keen to change career, people who are passionate about a hobby or anyone wanting to pass on their expertise to keen learners.

Largest Oxford University donation drives ambitions for new humanities building

Oxford University has submitted plans for the construction of a £150 million humanities building to include academic faculty space, concert, theatre and lecture halls at the Radcliffe Observatory quarter on Woodstock Road.

Designs by Hopkins Architects, the Stephen A Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities at the University of Oxford will be thanks to the largest single donation the university has received in its history.

It will pull together seven faculties, two institutes and six Bodleian libraries along with a world-class concert hall and three other performance venues, exhibition and film spaces in a unique academic and public building in the centre of the city.

Hopkins Architects has been commissioned for all stages of the project working with the university, the donor and his team and with other faculty stakeholders to create and define the distinct and overlapping elements of the programme for the building. It is hoped the project will go on site this year.

Oxford Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson, said: “This is an investment in excellence, an investment in Oxford, an investment in the UK, an investment in the belief that understanding what it means to be human is as critical today as it ever was.”

Town centre managers must be allowed to make loss on attractions to save high streets

Organisations like Local Enterprise Partnerships and Business Improvement Districts must be allowed to stage events at a financial loss without fear of public criticism if our town centres are to survive.

That was the view of David Jones, town planner and managing director of Reading and Cheltenham-based

£155M funding deal agreed with Get Living for major development in Maidenhead

Property developer HUB and investor Smedvig have agreed a £155 million deal with build-to-rent operator Get Living to fund the first phase of a scheme to revitalise central Maidenhead.

The deal is developer HUB’s ninth forward funding agreement and its largest to date. It is also HUB’s first deal with Get Living and the first time the build-to-rent operator has backed a development outside of the UK’s major cities.

The deal enables the delivery of 429 homes and 23,000 sq ft of retail, as well as car parking and extensive new public realm on a prominent 3.5-acre site in Maidenhead town centre. Construction has started.

planning consultants Evans Jones at a property roundtable held by Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce in Swindon.

The future success of ailing high streets – which were in serious decline even before the pandemic – would be “about driving people to you with events and experiences,” he added.

The Landing site – a key part of Maidenhead’s wider regeneration – is also adjacent to Maidenhead station, where Elizabeth Line trains will arrive in 2022, and will provide a much-needed link between the refurbished station and the town centre.

Research carried out by Savills identifies Maidenhead as an attractive location for build-to-rent investment because the town is underpinned by strong population and economic growth with high levels of employment in sectors that are forecast to grow significantly over the next decade.