Work is underway on Esh Group's new construction training academy in County Durham.

Foundation work has been started on the £3.6 million Esh Academy, which will draw together company services and group HR activities across the North East, Yorkshire, Scottish Borders and Cumbria under one banner.

The development also includes an extension to the main office building and an incubator building.

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The two-storey 320m2 building will be located to Esh's HQ at Bowburn.

It will house 150 apprentices, which the group has committed to take on until 2017.

Features include a range of indoor training facilities including syndicate rooms, administration offices, areas for the trainees to meet/study and an outdoor training area for construction plant and material handling training.

Tricia Mullen, Esh's Group Training Manager, said: "It is really exciting that we will soon have our own dedicated facilities from which Esh Academy will be run.

"We select and place our apprentices very carefully and work really closely with local colleges, CITB and JTL to ensure apprentices are trained well and to industry standards."

(LM/CD)