Ayrshire College has earned two nominations at the 2019 College Development Network (CDN) College Awards.

The CDN College Awards recognise the talent, skills and achievements of Scotland’s colleges , their staff and learners.

Ayrshire College is a finalist in the ‘Employer Connections’ and ‘Sustainability’ categories.

The ‘Employer Connections’ nomination is for the successful partnership between Ayrshire College, Morrison Construction and South Ayrshire Council that allowed students to work on a live restoration project at Belleisle Park.

Morrison Construction contributed funding for a new Introduction of Masonry Repair course, which resulted in 14 college students completing the full-time course while restoring Belleisle Park’s historic walled garden.

A further 48 students attended a one-day Lime Pointing course held at the Scottish Lime Centre Trust in Dunfermline before assisting with the restoration efforts.

A new course is running for 2019/20 in Heritage Brickwork Repair.

Cameron Bell, Head of Construction Technology, Trades, Motor Vehicle and Horticulture at Ayrshire College, said of the partnership: “Our partnership with South Ayrshire Council and Morrison Construction has proved to be an incredible success, as evidenced by the fact that so many students have gained SQA qualifications and moved into employment.

“Ayrshire College is always very keen to assist with construction projects that will be of benefit to the local community and to our students.

“When the College was approached by South Ayrshire Council about the work at Belleisle Park, we understood that the size of the project would require us to create a brand new course, where students would gain a qualification in this area.

This would not have been possible without the backing of Morrison Construction.”

For the ‘Sustainability’ award, Ayrshire College has been shortlisted for its sustainability effort across 2018/19.

Across the college, many departments have introduced measures to reduce waste.

The college’s fleet of cars and vans, which are bookable resources for all staff to be used for inter-campus travel, are now 100% electric.

Peter Bacchetti, the Catering Services Manager at Ayrshire College, has recently introduced re-usable coffee cups to reduce the use of disposable polyethylene-lined coffee cups throughout the college.

Peter said: “One of our key objectives is to look at how we can continue lowering harmful waste on the environment. Waste plastics are a contamination on nature and organic life. Our focus really needs to be on how we best respect the plastics that we do use.

“If we can help shift attitudes and behaviours towards reusing, recycling and respecting the plastics that we use, then this should in turn have the sort of positive impact that we wish for on the world that we live.”

The winners will be announced at the CDN’s awards ceremony, to be held on Thursday November 21 2019 at the Radisson Blu hotel in Glasgow.