THE news that work is due to start anytime now on the latest stage of Bradford College’s ambitious development plans is very welcome – and the fact that it will help create new jobs locally as it rises from the ground is even more so.

As with the Westfield project to build the new Broadway shopping centre, it is vitally important that developers tap into the wealth of local talent and skill to turn their dreams into reality.

Bradford, its businesses and its trades are more than capable of furnishing most of the requirements for any substantial development project and it is good to see that BAM construction, the main contractor on the College’s new £10 million Advanced Technology Centre, on Randall Street West, is committed to using as many local suppliers and sub-contractors as it can during the year-long build.

Ironically, perhaps, the reason many of those trades and skills are in place around the district is largely because of the quality of training carried out by Bradford College over many years. It is the College’s excellent reputation for delivering progressive vocational training that has earned it the ability to draw in the funding to allow it to expand and move to the next level.

The new Technology Centre – which will major in areas such as dentistry, green technology, engineering, IT and robotics – will further extend the reach and range of training that thousands will be able to experience from September when the new David Hockney Building comes in to use.

With such exciting new facilities to build on, who knows what they can achieve in future?