A PLAQUE was unveiled to mark the topping out of a £7.5m engineering centre.

Kirklees College’s new multi-million pound specialist engineering and motor vehicle centre in Huddersfield is a step closer to opening after the ceremony.

Based at Turnbridge Road, off St Andrew’s Road, Huddersfield, the centre will become the hub of engineering excellence with everything from motor mechanics to developing wind turbine technology on the curriculum.

The completion of the highest point took place yesterday but the college is not due to open until the new academic year in September.

It will coincide with the opening of the new college campus as part of The Waterfront Project off Chapel Hill.

Andrew Schofield, contracts manager for GMI Construction said: “We’ve reached an exciting stage in the construction of this building. We are now at a point where you can feel what the environment is going to be like for students and it’s looking really good.”

The building – designed by architect Richard Lockey from Kilmartin Plowman – will house maintenance and fabrication workshops, CNC and mechanical workshops, five demonstration areas, 13 classrooms, a student refectory and offices for staff.

Jeff Dakers, who chairs the governors at Kirklees College, said: “This building is for the future. All buildings make statements, and what is being built here is a statement about the future of engineering in our area.

“This centre will give us the chance to boost the manufacturing sector in the north.

“This area is steeped in history of the industrial revolution of the past. It’s time to focus on the future and with the unique partnership we have with the local authority, we have been able to help build that future.”

A plaque made from corten, the material used on large external panels of the building, is designed to rust over time and then stabilise.

The engineering centre is being built in addition to the college’s new Huddersfield Centre at the Waterfront Quarter, which is also due to open in the autumn.

The two new buildings will replace the college’s New North Road site which is currently up for sale.