Work has begun on Cumbrian training provider Gen2’s new centre near Workington.

The multi-million pound development at Lillyhall, on the former Cemtex Fabrics site, will allow substantial expansion of Gen2's training and educational services for the energy, engineering and advanced manufacturing business sectors in Cumbria and across the country.

The 7,000sq m facility will include 3,000sq m of engineering training workshops equipped with specialist equipment and machinery, along with classrooms to accommodate an additional 500 learners.

The facilities will create new opportunities for Gen2’s existing clients throughout Cumbria and allow the not-for-profit organisation to fulfil its ambition to expand the range of services on offer to new customers.

Mike Smith, chief executive of Gen2, said: “This project has been a long time in the planning, and will see the creation of the largest engineering and advanced manufacturing training facility in the North West, if not the UK.

"The new facility will be large enough to accommodate all of our existing provision at both Lillyhall and Salterbeck, and become the company’s new head office.

"It will also give us room to further expand our capacity and capability well into the future, as the demands for skilled engineers and technicians in support of the county’s large scale industrial projects, such as the new reactors to be built by NuGen at Moorside, start to take place.”

The facility is due to open in September 2017.