Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) has underlined its continued commitment to youth development with the launch of a new £810,000 Education Centre at its Milton Keynes site in the UK. The opening marks a total of £4 million invested by CCE in its national education programme since 2011 which to date has reached more than 300,000 young people.

Officially opened by Hubert Patricot, executive vice president and president of Europe Group – CCE, and George Eustice MP, parliamentary under secretary at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the new facility at Milton Keynes is CCE’s sixth Education Centre across Great Britain. Similar facilities are already in place at CCE’s other sites including Wakefield, Edmonton, Sidcup, East Kilbride and Continuum Recycling, CCE’s joint venture with ECO Plastics in Hemswell, Lincolnshire. Free and open to students aged 12 and above, the new centre aims to host more than 200 visits per year, reaching more than 4,000 students from local secondary schools, colleges and universities.

The new Education Centre forms part of a wider £2 million investment at CCE’s Milton Keynes factory last year. This is combined with a further £1.5 million injection into operations occurring throughout 2014, taking total investment at the site to more than £16 million over the last five years.

With a curriculum-linked programme, visitors to CCE’s Education Centres receive subject related insight into manufacturing processes, alongside a guided tour of the factory. Each centre is run by a General Teaching Council registered teacher, employed full-time by CCE, and gives students an opportunity to develop their knowledge of the world of work, making connections between what they learn in the classroom and real-life modern manufacturing practices.

Patricot says, “At Coca-Cola Enterprises we are extremely proud of the work our award-winning education programme has done to bring the worlds of business and education closer together. The announcement of our investment milestone is proof of our recognition of the importance of highlighting the career opportunities available across the sector, whilst providing valuable insight into our business and the wider industry.

“This latest addition to our Education Centre initiative in Milton Keynes forms part of our ongoing commitment to the development of young people throughout Great Britain to inspire the next generation of engineers.”