KENDAL College officially unveils its new engineering department on Friday, providing state-of-the art technical training for nearly 40 students.

Following a quarter of a million pound investment, the department is now equipped with lathes, milling machines, power saws and a brand new computer suite with design software provided by Kendal water turbine manufacturer’s Gilbert Gilkes and Gordon.

But the jewel in the new department’s crown is a 3D printer which allows students to create prototypes of engineer-ing designs just as they would in a modern eng-ineering environment.

“The engineering dep-artment at the college has been created from scratch in a little over 12 months,” said principal Graham Wilkinson.

“In order to make sure that we create the right kind of department we have worked very closely with local engineering companies like Gilkes to develop our facilities and curriculum.”

Engineering is reported to be one of Cumbria’s priority sectors over the next 30 years, as highlighted in a recent report commissioned by Cumbria Vision.

Mr Wilkinson is keen for South Lakeland students to be at the heart of a burgeoning sector and said: “The college’s prio-rity is to provide vocational training to meet the needs of the local economy, and we identified a need for more young people to be train-ed in engineering subjects.”

There are currently 21 students on full-time engineering apprentice-ship schemes, and the college is looking at providing HNC and HND qualifications in the subject for higher education students in the future.

“Kendal College’s app-renticeships have launched the careers of hun- dreds of young people,” he said.

“We hope that we will be able to help to shape the careers of aspiring young engineers and meet the needs of the local engineering community in the same way that we have with other job sectors.”

Geoff Whitehead, the manufacturing director at Gilbert Gilkes and Gordon, is now sitting on the college’s board of governors to represent the department.