Financial Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms MP laid the foundation stone of the new Building Crafts College at Stratford at a ceremony in December. The stone was inscribed by the College\'s own masons.

The £4million project by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, the London livery company that runs the college, will move the establishment from its current location in great Titchfield Street, north of Oxford Street. It will give the college purpose-built workshops for the stonemasonry and carpentry courses for which it is famous.

Stephen Timms said at the ceremony: I recognise the long standing involvement of the Carpenters Company in the local community at Stratford and the significant contribution to regeneration that this new college represents.

College director John Taylor, himself no stranger to regeneration schemes having been chief executive of the British Urban Regeneration Association, said: This initiative not only improves the physical environment and provides a boost to the local economy, but will also enable many disadvantaged members of the local community to gain the skills and confidence necessary for employment in regeneration projects in east London.