Toyota has now officially opened its new £14 million engineering training centre and academy in Nottingham.

The Duke of Kent officially opened the Castle College Highfields training centre today.

The new facility is located on Nottingham Science Park and will provide training programmes, based on Toyota’s best practice, for 600 Castle College students each year, ranging from 14-16 year olds as well as school leavers.

Toyota’s Academy will deliver training programmes for 350 apprentices for its Toyota and Lexus national retail networks, as well as 60 manufacturing engineering apprentices for its manufacturing plants in Burnaston, Derbyshire and Deeside, North Wales.

The centre was funded by a regional project partnership including East Midlands Development Agency, Learning and Skills Council Nottinghamshire (LSC) and Nottingham City Council with support from Castle College.

Built around a central hub the 71,000 square-foot centre has nine workshops, a body repair workshop, a car showroom, a learning resource centre and a restaurant.

Miguel Fonseca, managing director of Toyota (GB), said: "As a global company we have a global responsibility to create sustainable business that respects society, customers, employees, business partners and the environment.

"This Centre combines Toyota’s commitment to skills, environmental leadership and our commitment to corporate citizenship, in particular in the East Midlands region."