Three hundred and fifty students are already using what must be the biggest single investment in the Forest of Dean for some years - Gloucestershire College's Cinderford campus.
With capacity to grow to 700 the college is expecting those numbers to swell rapidly in coming years - but it is the business community it is now keen to get in front of.
"We are very keen to work with Forest of Dean businesses - that is a big area we want to get into. They are welcome to come in and use our facilities and we want to talk to them about skills and how we can help," said Andy Bates, chief financial director of the college.
As you approach the eye-catching Roberts Limbrick-designed Barnwood Construction-built building between the two wooden-clad halves above the glass entrance sits a copper-green covered second floor room - just one of the spaces available for free to local firms for gatherings.
