Shropshire Council backs economic growth plan with Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology investment
Shropshire Council is supporting a new training hub that will provide apprentices for generations to come, whilst helping local engineering businesses to accelerate their growth.
The £4million Marches Centre for Manufacturing & Technology (MCMT), which is based in a 36,000 sq ft facility on the Stanmore Industrial Estate in Bridgnorth, has been created by a consortium of Classic Motor Cars, Grainger & Worrall, In-Comm Training and Salop Design & Engineering.
Marches Centre of Manufacturing and Technology
The council has provided financial support of £499,931 to the MCMT Community Interest Company (CIC) to purchase state-of-the-art equipment that will be used in engineering and automotive apprenticeships as part of its ambitious plan to deliver ‘2020 learning opportunities by 2020’.
Nic Laurens, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for economic growth, said:
“This is the first centre of excellence of its kind – focused on Small and Medium-Size Enterprises (SMEs) in the fast growing sectors of automation and high value engineering. It will be invaluable in enabling the growth of local firms by providing access to the next generation of skilled individuals.
“To have this developed and based in Shropshire is great for everyone and really helps to put our county on the map.
“This important investment shows that we are serious about supporting skills targeted at the Shropshire economy, directly delivering a priority of our recently-launched Economic Growth Strategy.
“We are delighted to be working with a number of our key businesses on this fantastic facility and are committed to supporting its success. We would also like to thank the consortium and the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (Marches LEP) for their drive, foresight and ambition.”
MCMT, which has received £1.9m of government Growth Deal funding via the Marches LEP and financial support from the European Regional Development Fund, will provide a high-tech environment for individuals to learn from engineering experts on the latest technology – all geared towards giving them opportunities to apply their new found skills on real life manufacturing situations.
It will house dedicated fabrication, lathe, metrology, milling, robotics and vehicle trimming sections, not to mention a specialist CNC Zone with more than £1m of machines donated by the Engineering Technology Group.
There will also be an auditorium lecture theatre, bespoke learning environments, five vehicle ramps and a rolling road test facility.
Matthew Snelson, Managing Director of the Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology:
“Shropshire has an ageing average population (46 against 40 nationally), a greater number of lower skilled, lower paid jobs and a growing need to be more productive.
“The MCMT, with the support of Shropshire Council, the Marches LEP, European Regional Development funding and private sector sponsorship, will address some of these concerns by delivering a world class training hub that will create the next generation of engineers and upskill existing workers so we become more competitive.
“We fit in perfectly with the Economic Growth Strategy and the focus on growing the Advanced Manufacturer sector so that we increase the region’s ‘value add’, boost wages and, importantly, attract businesses to set-up and expand here.
“Shropshire Council is now on the MCMT Board and will play an important role in helping us achieve our target of supporting 2,020 learners by 2020.”
For further information, please visit www.mcmt.co.uk or follow @marchescentre on twitter.
The Economic Growth Strategy was launched formally on Tuesday 26 September 2017.
