A NEW college campus has been officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Lady Verulam, who unveiled a plaque at Oaklands College s Alban Park Campus in St Albans. The �2-million complex, which sits behind an industrial estate off Hatfield

A NEW college campus has been officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Lady Verulam, who unveiled a plaque at Oaklands College's Alban Park Campus in St Albans.

The �2-million complex, which sits behind an industrial estate off Hatfield Road, boasts state-of-the-art, industry-standard facilities for construction, engineering and motoring students, along with those studying hospitality and catering.

Speaking at the opening event, college principal Mark Dawe said: "This building is a very exciting project for Oaklands College and it sometimes gets forgotten about because of all the work we are doing on the new build. But it is an incredibly-important facility for us."

He added: "It's enabled us to meet many of the demands we are getting from the students for learning and skills that we just weren't able to meet in our existing campus. It has allowed us to start developing areas such as catering and motor vehicles, which was just one little room tucked away at Welwyn."

Mr Dawe also said that there was a big interest among school leavers for courses such as engineering and plumbing, which were almost full for the next year.

n To see photos of the new facility visit our gallery at www.hertsad.co.uk