A building firm has signed a £10.8 million contract to construct a new town-centre college.

BAM Construction will deliver the first stage of Ashford College’s new campus at Elwick Road having already carried out the initial demolition work on the project.

It will create a 5,112sq m site, capable of housing 900 more students and replacing its current home on Jemmett Road.

It is set to be built by early 2017 and open in September that year, offering facilities aimed at teaching manufacturing, construction, technology and service sector courses.

The long-running proposals were first put forward by K College before it was split up last year, with Hadlow College taking over the site.

Hadlow Group finance director Mark Lumsdon-Taylor said: “The new college will be located in the vibrant centre of Ashford town where so many exciting developments are taking place, a wonderful location for our students.”

BAM Construction’s parent company Royal BAM built the world’s first ever sliding football pitches, NATO’s headquarters in Brussels and two of the stadiums used in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

South East regional director Adam Harding added: “We are delighted to be working with the Hadlow Group to create Ashford College and build on our excellent track record in Kent that includes projects such as the Bluewater Events Centre.

“Kent is a very important economic centre for us and our well-developed supply chain means that we can return a lot of investment back to the local economy.”