GLASGOW councillors have approved a proposal to fund a new £7m City Building training college near Springburn.

The facility, to be built at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries campus, will replace the current college on the Queenslie Industrial Estate.

It will be funded via prudential borrowing, with the cost covered by the “subsequent saving of property and supplies and service costs from exiting Queenslie”.

The new college, which will have classroom space and work units, will house more than 250 apprentices and tradespeople, with training in trades such as painting, plumbing, electrical, joinery and gas engineering.

There will also be courses on subjects such as asbestos, roofing and health and safety.

Councillor Kenny McLean, city convener for neighbourhoods, housing and public realm, asked the council’s City Administration to approve the funding proposal,

He said the current training infrastructure was “no longer fit for purpose”.

Councillor Archie Graham said the Labour group is “very supportive” of the plan, adding: “The council has a proud record over decades of training apprentices for the construction industry in the city.

“It will be a better facility I’m sure, it’s better to have it all on the one site.”

City Building currently has three facilities: Darnick Street head office, the RSBi at Edgefauld Avenue and an SQA-accredited training centre at the Queenslie Industrial Estate.

But a report to the council stated the Queenslie centre, constructed 65 years ago, needs “significant investment” and is considered “prohibitive” to the future success of the apprenticeship programme.

City Building is aiming to create 2000 new craft apprentices over the next 30 years – a commitment made by the firm when it formed its joint venture between Glasgow City Council and Wheatley Group in 2017

“The facility is now outdated and would require considerable upgrading to reach the high standard of learning accommodation the council has set in recent years and that is expected of a first-class training college in the 21st century,” the report stated.

Some of the apprenticeship programme was delivered from the Laurieston Skills Academy but has now been relocated to Queenslie due to an ongoing housing development in the south of the city.

The RSBi site is home to the Health and Social Care Partnership’s learning and development centre as well as being used by other council services for training courses, such as first aid, food hygiene and health and safety.

Councillor Allan Casey, chairman of City Building, said the new centre would be “crucial” to creating jobs within the city.

“It supports our wider aim to get more young people into work or training and build wealth within communities."