First minister opens centre
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford officially opened Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s £13.6m centre of excellence for engineering in Llangefni.
Canolfan Sgiliau Technoleg Menai (Canolfan STeM) is Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s largest-capital build to date and features the highest quality, most state-of-theart engineering training equipment in Wales.
Dafydd Evans, chief executive officer of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, said: “Our core purpose at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai is to support the economy of North Wales by equipping local people with the skills and qualifications needed to ensure the competitiveness and success of the region.
“As part of this, we have a growth strategy for engineering and are committed to promoting development in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) across all our sites in Rhyl, Rhos-on-Sea, Glynllifon, Pwllheli, Dolgellau and Llangefni.
“With a wealth of employment opportunities expected to be created by energy and infrastructure projects being proposed for North Wales, we identified an opportunity to make Coleg Menai’s Llangefni campus a nationally recognised campus for supporting industry.”
Canolfan STeM features workshops, mechanical systems & electrical training, Cad suites, IT-based training classrooms and a second-floor glazed refectory featuring breathtaking panoramic views of Snowdonia.
It was funded by Grŵp Llandrillo Menai alongside its partners, Welsh Government – who contributed £6.8m toward the scheme – the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (£2m) and Horizon Nuclear Power (£1m).
Mr Drakeford said: “It is crucial Wales continues to develop a skilled workforce, which enables us to develop in turn a highly-skilled economy.”