Despite the global uncertainty, £9m building work at Wiltshire College & University Centre’s specialist land-based Lackham campus has been full steam ahead.

The Animal Centre has been rebuilt to modern zoo standards, while former classrooms and science labs have been transformed into an impressive Exotic Centre featuring large vivaria, housing reptiles, birds and fish. Students are enjoying using the centre for the practical elements of their course whilst in college and within Covid-safe working practices.

The project has also seen the transformation of the manor house into a Higher Education Teaching Centre, enabling the College to further grow its university level offering over the next two years to include degrees in Environmental Science and Sustainability and HNDs in Agri-Tech and Agri-Business Management.

A state-of-the-art agri-tech building, which is currently under construction, will become the centrepiece of the Lackham campus, equipping the next generation with the skillset needed in the ever-developing farming world.

The college, in partnership with the T H WHITE group and DeLaval, will also become one of the first in the country to have a robotic dairy parlour, supporting the development of a dedicated undergraduate Dairy Engineering qualification. Students will also gain valuable hands-on experience in driverless tractors, drones, robotics and will gain other digital skills, giving them the toolkit needed to go straight into the workplace and make a positive impact.

Ian Revill, assistant principal at the Lackham campus, said: “The developments have been a hugely exciting symbol to staff of the opportunities ‘beyond Covid’ and have given us all a great lift. Seeing ideas and plans actually taking shape has been an amazing experience. They really are creating the look that we wanted which was always about “21st-century facilities in a setting which maximises our rural heritage” in order to provide the most attractive place to study or work.”