THE number of students at Wiltshire College’s Salisbury campus is set to double after a £14million redevelopment is completed.

It will mean an influx of around 1,000 students to the city after the major refurbishment is completed in 2020.

The increased numbers and higher level candidates have been welcomed as a much-needed boost to the local economy which currently struggles to fill skilled job vacancies from within the county.

At a public meeting on Monday, attended by city council members, project leaders gave an insight into the ambitious plans.

Along with the relocation of a number of existing courses on the campus, new courses will also become available within the modernised site including life sciences and advanced engineering.

Deputy principal and project sponsor Adrian Ford said: “To get the money for the project we had to be in line with local enterprise partnership (LEP) priorities of the region and to do this we will introduce six life science degrees. We are also opening more engineering courses.

“Salisbury is a city that has to import these workers from other areas and with this we will be able to grow our own at a higher level.

“There is no doubt the LEP funding is underpinned by the long-term growth of the college which means more students.

“We really want to get twice the amount of students than we have over the coming years.”

The college is also working to expand its university partners to introduce more course options, with some to become available as soon as September 2019.

Principal Amanda Burnside said: “It is a fantastic opportunity to really fill some of the skills gaps that are here in the city particularly the skills and specialist jobs in the Salisbury area.”

The multi-million pound revamp of the campus, which was announced in February, will include a new building to house a modern teaching facility and a redeveloped campus layout, with much of the construction of the campus to take place during the college’s summer holidays.

Mr Ford said: “We have done a lot of work already, trying to get rid of as many of the unknowns as we can.”

There will also be a revamp of the existing buildings to “improve the public face of the college”.

Project architect David Perkin added: “It has suffered from piecemeal development and a general lack of investment in recent years.

“There is too much poor-quality space at the college, we are looking to rationalise it to make it better and make it work harder.”

A full planning application is expected to be submitted early in the new year.