TRAINING company Herefordshire and Worcestershire Group Training Association is to move into two new units on Worcester's Great Western Business Park, snapped up as the city suffers a shortage of commercial accommodation

Regeneration specialist St Modwen has completed the sale to HWGTA for £1.5m. The units are due for completion early next year and will create 20 new jobs, providing training for several hundred learners each year at all levels, including higher apprenticeships.

Jonathan Green, senior development surveyor at St. Modwen, said: "This latest deal highlights the continuing strength of the commercial landscape in Worcester and a growing need to answer the shortage of this type of development, as we face a situation where there simply isn’t the accommodation for businesses to grow.

"The fact that we applied for a variation to the existing planning permission in order to meet HWGTA’s requirements reflects St. Modwen’s flexibility and ability to tailor our developments to suit occupier’s needs. We look forward to welcoming them to the development when the units complete next year."

With £950,000 investment from the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership through the Government’s Growth Deal and £70,000 of New Homes Bonus funding from Worcester City Council, as well as match funding from HWGTA, the new Centre replaces HWGTAs current operation in Sunnyside Road, Worcester and provides a state of the art facility for engineering skills development for the manufacturing, processing, finance, legal and service sectors across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Duane Sanger, chief executive at HWGTA, said: "Great Western Business Park provides the ideal location for our needs. Just a short drive to Worcester City Centre, and with key transport connections nearby, enabling our apprentices to easily access the facility. The tailor-made buildings will enable the Association to grow its onsite training provision ensuring local companies have access to required training."

Gary Woodman, chief executive of the LEP added: "It's great to see development on the new Centre of Vocational Excellence is now underway. This specialist facility will help to support the development of many engineering apprenticeships and I am confident that the facility will help to raise the skills of our local workforce, which is great news for business and the local economy."