NCC East secures £17m from Learning and Skills Council

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has thrown a lifeline to the National Construction College's flagship Bircham Newton training centre with an agreement to provide £17m in capital funding to keep the facility afloat.

The decision represents a major step forward after months of uncertainty following the failure of an NCC planning application that would have seen it raise £8.5m to update the college from the development of 250 homes in the area.

The NCC then hit upon the idea of applying for funding from the LSC in the early part of this year using the National Academy for Skills in Construction (NAFSC) model.

But the LSC's decision to provide capital funding will be dependent on the NCC's ability to raise matched funding of £4.3m. The College is planning  to make the money through a smaller development of just 24 homes on the Bircham Newton site.

Skills minister David Lammy welcomed the move and stressed the importance of training in construction.

"We are amid the busiest building programme in the UK since the war so I am extremely please that we have been able to confirm this support for a college that makes such a vital contribution to the construction industry," he said.

NCC director David Boyden commented: "This is the news that we've been hoping for. It means we can continue to deliver specialist construction training to an industry that we have served for 40 years. The NCC sends a huge thank-you to everyone in industry, government, the local community and the media who have given their support over the past few years."