Funding for new multi-million engineering and research centre of excellence in Dungannon

South West College made the announcement that it had won INTEREG funding for the €6.2 million centre at a special meeting of the Mid Ulster Council on Thursday night.

Proposals for the new £10m engineering centre of excellence have already been drawn up in consultation with experts around the world, and reflect East Tyrone’s growing success and reputation in this lucrative field.

Sinn Fein Councillor Dominic Molloy congratulated the college on the development.

“Obviously this is fantastic news for the college to secure European funding of this nature but also great news for the wider community”, he said. “The benefit to the many many engineering firms locally will be that future employees will have the necessary skills and experience going into the work force and for the youth of Mid Ulster and further afield.

“This brings great opportunities to train and acquire skills and qualifications right up to degree level. This is one of the most exciting and important investments in local industry in recent years and given the prominence of local engineering, I have no doubt this will be of huge benefit to our local economy.”

South West College confirmed that a site had already been located at the Dungannon campus for the state-of-the-art building, the largest project the college has undertaken to date.

The specialist centre is planned to house the latest innovative technologies and equipment, and will become the heart of the college’s plans to become a leading light in the engineering sector.

The college said the centre would design the products needed for the future using the best practices adopted by the most up-to-date US technology centres.