Providing digital skills training for people in our community will improve their employability and meet the growing employer demand for digitally-skilled employees.

This project, thanks to £2.29m investment from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, will offer upskilling and retraining opportunities from those just developing their skill base, to those looking for a far more advanced understanding.

The Academy aims to integrate the world-class outstanding teaching, innovation, and business acumen at Nelson and Colne College.

And a new learning hub located in Nelson town centre will provide access to digital skills training for all adult learners across Pendle.

The hub will include a business space to support that critical interaction between learners and employers and there’ll also be a dedicated workspace in which start-up businesses can thrive.

A key objective of the Academy and the town centre hub is that they will work in tandem to provide this specialist training, forging a strong connection between the College and the centre of Nelson.

This project will play a vital part in creating a more vibrant town centre and provide new opportunities for local people by establishing links between local employers and learners.

Nelson and Colne College is leading the way with this exciting project.

The funding is being used to create a College hub through redeveloping parts of the campus to create over 100 new teaching spaces and providing additional access to state-of-the-art equipment.

This redevelopment will create a new, dedicated, learning environment supporting the delivery of digital T-Level courses, alongside the wider digital curriculum.

The Nelson and Colne College hub will provide access for all learners to enhanced facilities, developed with industry to ensure they are industry specific and support learners to improve their digital skills in line with what employers need. These facilities will include over 200 high-spec PCs to be housed within the Academy itself.