E3 Recruitment’s (E3R) Offsite Construction & Built Environment sector team was invited to attend the official opening and exhibit at the £4.3m Connolly Centre of Modern Construction (CCMC) last week at The Bedford College Group, which offers students ‘offsite’ construction training.
Mark Farmer, the Government’s champion of Modern Methods of Construction, officially declared the CCMC open on Wednesday 20th October and stated: “This facility will be helping to re-shape how we deliver construction in the future. It meets the Government agenda for skills and sustainability and I can see it being an exemplar for the rest of the country.”
The CCMC is housed in the colleges first Net Zero Carbon building and contains the very latest highly-specialised construction equipment on which up to 100 students will train for jobs, or upgrade their existing skills to match up to emerging ‘modern methods of construction.
The state-of-the-art equipment includes a Howick Frama 5600 metal profiling machine to produce metal components ready for self-assembly; an industry-standard gantry crane to lift components of up to 3.2 tonnes; JJ Smith automated cross-cut and sliding saw, and a computer-aided design suite linked to the Virtual Reality “cave”.
Following the official opening which included a tour of the building, an exhibition of employers who will support and benefit from the skilled workforce created at the CCMC was held. Being a specialist recruiter in this sector E3R exhibited, along with; Modular Building Automation, Sika, Passive Purple, Beattie Passive, L&Q, Stewart Milne, Sika, Excel Structures, Intelligent Membranes, Timber Development UK, and Trussed Rafter Association.
Modular construction continues to grow in popularity and demand, as it provides an agile solution for fast cost-effective building requirements. The continued demand for housing can be addressed by modular, with pre-manufactured homes being shipped to building sites and proving to be the most efficient and cost-effective way to meet the high housing targets.
E3R Director James Soden commented: “It was an honour to attend the official opening of the Connolly Centre of Modern Construction, which is leading the way in training the next generation in offsite construction.
“The industry leaders who were also in attendance, demonstrate the value the CCMC will offer the offsite construction sector we represent, supporting the high number of roles available in the industry both now and in the future, as it continues to grow. We are proud to be a partner and assist with our industry knowledge and connections.”
The £4.3 Million net carbon building has been made possible by funding via regional agency SEMLEP of £2.9 Million. The £4.3 Million includes £750,000 donated by the Connolly Foundation towards the very latest construction equipment inside the building and the Wixamtree Trust also donated £10,000.
To find out more about the CCMC please visit: https://bedfordcollegegroup.ac.uk/connolly-centre-for-modern-construction/
To understand more about the services E3R’s Offsite Construction & Built Environment sector team offers, please email [email protected]