The search is on for contractors to build a new £50m campus for Kilmarnock College after Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond yesterday approved funding and authorised the procurement process to start.

The new campus will be built on the site of the former Diageo premises in the town and work is expected to begin on site in August 2013. Diageo is donating the site to the college.

Other phases of development on the 30-acre town centre site are expected to follow the new college project, with a mix of business and residential use.

Speaking during a visit to the current college campus, Mr Salmond said: ”The creation of the new college campus on the former Diageo site will be a fitting example of how further education is key to delivering us from tough economic times.

“Following the closure of the Diageo plant, we must do all we can to create new opportunities for local people.  Diageo’s proposal to gift its Kilmarnock site to the college has been helpful in crystallising its plans for the future, allowing the college to consolidate its activities on a single, accessible, town centre location.”

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