New Centre of Excellence is shining example of LEP’s Decade of Delivery

The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership says the completion and opening of a state-of-the-art new health centre of excellence in Telford is a shining example of the benefits its Decade of Delivery has produced. 

The LEP provided £3.5million of Local Growth Fund investment to the £5million Marches Centre of Excellence for Health and Social Care developed by the University of Wolverhampton at its Priorslee campus in Telford. 

Marches LEP chair Mandy Thorn MBE said it made the investment because it recognised the importance of the project in delivering a huge range of strategic benefits for the Marches. 

The centre – which was officially opened in May – uses cutting edge technology, such as immersive reality, to revolutionise the way in which learning is delivered and has developed new courses and content to meet market and sector demands. 

It will result in 72 new jobs, the development of two new apprenticeship programmes, 174 new apprentices and enrolment of over 1,000 students in the first four years. 

Mandy said: “The centre makes good on the LEP’s commitment to providing first-class training and learning opportunities in this crucial sector for the whole region. It will help retain more young talent in this region by giving them the skills and experience they need to meet their own career ambitions and to create more high-value jobs and opportunities for years to come.   

“It also delivers on the LEP’s aim of embracing the latest technologies and establishing the Marches as a national leader in the adoption of digital and advanced training methods whilst also demonstrating the success of the partnership working model.  

“The LEP was created to bring public and private sector organisations together to work for the good of the wider region – something the new centre of excellence is a shining example of. 

“It is just one of numerous projects across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin we have helped bring to fruition by working with the business community, public sector and academia during our Decade of Delivery since we were established ten years ago.” 

Geoff Layer, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “Continued investment in our Telford Innovation Campus for both health care related courses and engineering and manufacturing is key to us providing the skills that employers and businesses need across the Marches region. 

“Investment by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership has been invaluable, not only for the Marches Centre of Excellence for Health and Social Care in Telford, but also for our new partnership building in Herefordshire, the Cyber Quarter – Midlands Centre for Cyber Security.  

“These are investments which will see real benefits in terms of plugging the health care skills gap and shortages regionally for nurses, paramedics and social workers as well as helping to protect businesses against the increasing threat of cybercrime.”