A TRAINING scheme set up at a Herefordshire school has won a national award.

Construction and civil engineering firm Stepnell is celebrating after securing a National Constructing Excellence Award for a training scheme it helped to set up at Earl Mortimer College in Leominster.

The company scooped the top prize in the integration and collaborative working category at the awards which celebrate raising industry performance.

Stepnell was rewarded for its work with the Learning Skills Council to establish a pilot Skills Academy at Earl Mortimer College, formerly The Minster College.

The academy was set up while the company carried out a £20 million Building Schools for the Future Pathfinder project to design and build a new school.

This enabled Stepnell to provide training to directly meet the needs of construction businesses.

With help from Herefordshire Council the programme has allowed the company to offer students from Earl Mortimer College and other local schools work experience, structured training and an introduction to construction industry careers.