New £3m hospitality and catering facilities have opened at Activate Learning’s City of Oxford College.
The investment went ahead thanks to £2.17m in funding secured through the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) via the government’s Local Growth Fund.
The facilities at the Oxpens Road-based college include state-of-the-art training kitchens, featuring industry-standard equipment identified in partnership with Activate Learning’s hospitality and catering lead partners, The Fat Duck Group.
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Nigel Huddleston, Tourism Minister, visited the college earlier this month to officially open the new facilities.
He said: “I was delighted to open Activate Learning’s brand-new hospitality and catering facilities at City of Oxford College and see first-hand the fantastic opportunities that await the next generation in these sectors.
“Tourism and hospitality make vital contributions to our economy and we need to make sure we have a strong pipeline of talent coming through to help build back better for the future.”
The total cost of the project was over £3m to bring it to fruition, with additional building work carried out to develop a refectory and student area for the college, creating a new heart to the city centre campus. This additional funding was paid for by Activate Learning.
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The investment into the new facilities at City of Oxford College are in line with both local and national demands for highly-skilled and work-ready staff to take on roles within a sector that is vitally important for the local economy.
Sally Dicketts CBE, Chief Executive of Activate Learning said: “We have a long track record of providing the hospitality and catering sector with amazing talent from here at City of Oxford College and these new facilities will allow this brilliant work to continue for years to come.
“This is a fantastic example of how further education can work with central Government to develop a strategic response to a long-term need for the local economy.
“These ultramodern, state-of-the-art training spaces will ensure students have real-life, practical experience of working in the sort of kitchens they will expect to find when they go out into the workplace.
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"They will also allow us to strengthen and build on the outstanding relationships we have with local employers, by offering more opportunities for them to come into these facilities and offer practical demonstrations and skills workshops.”
The new facilities are a feature outlined in the business-driven economic recovery plan led by Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
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