BUDDING BUILDERS SIGN UP WITH CRAIG; Training centre to help youngsters get jobs.

Byline: By JANE WOODHEAD

A pounds 500,000 training centre for builders is recruiting its first students.

The college, the brainchild of Big Brother winner Craig Phillips, is the largest of its type on Merseyside. Around 60 students have already applied to study brickwork, carpentry and plastering at the unit in Aintree when it opens next month.

Craig, who won the first Big Brother series in 2000 and is a qualified bricklayer, decided to open the centre after identifying a gap in the skills market.

He has put up the money himself and the centre will also receive ongoing funding from the Learning and Skills Council.

It is aimed at school leavers and itis hoped it will equip them with the necessary skills to find jobs.

It is also hoped accomplished tradesmen who have been in the business for many years will come to teach.

Craig, 33, who now lives in Formby, said: "We do have a shortage of teachers in this area and we would like to see carpenters, joiners and plasterers who have been in the business for years coming forward to pass on their skills and ensure these trades never die out."

Craig previously ran his own building company before entering Big Brother"It was after I came out of Big Brother and I was looking for general tradesmen to take part in a project which I was doing for Discovery Home and Leisure.

"There was a massive shortage. "I spoke to the Learning and Skills Council and they told me there are not sufficient providers in the city to train people," he said.

The centre, on the Barclay Business Park, includes workshops and IT classrooms, and students will study for NVQ qualifications.

The college opens on September 12 and by early next year it is hoped around 190 students will be enrolled

CAPTION(S):

BARROW OF LAUGHS: Craig Phillips with his workforce, from left, Keith Cadwallader, Jay McDavid and Mick Baker at the new skills training centre in Aintree Picture: EDDIE BARFORD