ISG has secured a £1 million (€1.1m) project with UK based Reaseheath College to refurbish and enlarge an advanced dairy processing facility at its 500 acre Cheshire parkland site.

The project will ensure that the leading land-based college can offer improved facilities within its licensed food and drink manufacturing and processing halls.

ISG is stripping out and refurbishing the existing food processing halls and is also building a 200 square metre steel frame extension. The refurbishment will allow the college to expand its services to North West businesses and encourage business growth and diversification throughout the region. Food manufacturers and new food producers will be encouraged to use the state-of-the-art facilities for new product development. The project has been made possible through a major grant from the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

The food halls will also be used by students on the dairy industry’s new world class education initiative, Project Eden. Project Eden is a groundbreaking partnership between leading dairy processors and manufacturers, Improve, the sector skills council for food and drink industry, and Dairy UK, the industry’s trade organisation.

The collaboration has resulted in a globally recognised, degree level qualification in dairy technology, which was launched at Reaseheath in September. The majority of students already work in the industry and require cutting edge facilities to help them take their careers forward. Reaseheath College is recognised as an international centre of excellence for dairy training and is dairy champion within the National Skills Academy (NSA) for Food and Drink Manufacture. Its food halls are already recognised as among the best in Europe and are used by many blue chip clients and rural businesses.

“The food and drink sector is a critically important part of the economy in the UK and particularly in the North West. It is wonderful to see work starting on a project which will enable us to continue to provide specialist support and knowledge and technology transfer to these industries,” comments Meredydd David, Reaseheath’s principal. “It will also help to maintain competitiveness and profitability during these challenging times.”