Blot on landscape makes way for college project (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Middlesbrough college students will get a head start in jobs race

6:20pm Sunday 10th March 2013 in News By Julia Breen

HUNDREDS of students in the region will get a head start in the jobs race thanks to the removal of a blot on the landscape.

Esh Group has teamed up with Middlesbrough Council to demolish a derelict property behind part of Middlesbrough College campus at Dock Street.

In its place will emerge the site for an innovative construction project which will help hundreds of construction students gain the skills they need to compete in the jobs market.

Over the course of an academic year students from Middlesbrough College will build a detached bungalow.

At the end of each year the bungalow will be deconstructed, the materials recycled and the whole process will start again with a new intake of students.

Middlesbrough College acquired the site last year and since then has been making plans for its use.

Esh Group will demolish the derelict building before laying the infrastructure for the Middlesbrough College Construction site.

Marty Humphries, Head of Construction Projects at Middlesbrough College, said: “This planned facility will replicate a working construction site.

“Construction students will not only gain the skills they need but will gain experience of working on a fully functional site, something employers tell us they need.”

The site will offer students a chance to train in ground works, landscaping, brickwork, plastering, rendering, plumbing, joinery and electrical skills as well as renewable and sustainable technologies including solar panels and low carbon insulation.