CITY College Plymouth has been awarded a £1.5 million grant towards modernising the facilities.

The Enhanced Renewal Grant and £100,000 Renewal Grant were awarded by the Skills Funding Agency.

This follows a competitive bidding process, to enable the College to further modernise its facilities and its estate.

It will focus on a £4.5 million refurbishment project for the college's engineering facilities.

A state-of-the-art learning environment will be created for September 2013, which meets environmental standards for sustainable building design.

College principal, Phil Davies, said: "This is really good news for the College and for young people, apprentices, adults and businesses of Plymouth. City College Plymouth has a long history of providing engineering education and training, which can be traced back to the start of the College – when it was the local technical college.

"Our engineering refurbishment project is vital in ensuring that we can continue to successfully support a priority sector for Plymouth. It will also complement the creation of the University Technical College (UTC), in which we are a lead partner, further contributing to much needed economic regeneration for our local community and economy."

The newly refurbished engineering facilities will be modern, bright and clean with glass and aluminum opening up workshops to create open-plan workspaces.

These light and airy workspaces will house aligned disciplines in clusters to create trade-excellence areas. There will also be a modern social area with seating and coffee-shop type facilities.

Chris Mace, head of the Faculty of Engineering and ICT at the College, said: "The engineering staff are delighted that the College has been awarded this grant and that we will be able to completely refurbish our engineering facilities, which date back to the mid-1970s.

"We can look forward to providing our students with a better learning environment, where – with significant input from local employers – we can ensure that we are showcasing examples of current engineering in practice. A good example is our plan for an enlarged automotive area where we will be able to work with hybrid vehicles."

Oliver Colvile, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP, added: "It's very good news, and one of the issues I've talked about for some while is that we are a low skills, low wage economy and the work that City College does to try and build up those skills is excellent.

"I am delighted that the government has recognised the work City College Plymouth is doing."