Elutec College this afternoon announced its move to the Dagenham site.

The design and engineering centre at East London University Technical College will leave its Rainham site at the end of the summer term to move to Londoneast-uk, which is owned by SOG Group.

A temporary college will teach 170 students for 12 months while a multi-million pound campus is created at Londoneast-uk to cater for more than 600 by 2017.

And Elutec’s principal, Ruth Umerah, said she was excited for the move.

“I’m absolutely delighted that we have reached an agreement with SOG Group to not only purchase land at Londoneast-uk for our new permanent college campus, but that SOG is also able to accommodate us in existing buildings on the site for the next academic year while our new facility is being built,” she said. “It has been a challenging time trying to find a new home for our college which specialises in engineering and design. This exciting arrangement with SOG means our students will be studying and working in the heart of a business and technology park which is a perfect setting for the academic subjects we offer.

“The Elutec team has been working tirelessly to find a suitable home after our previous plans fell through, and at Londoneast-uk we have the perfect solution. – and we will also be able to watch as our permanent campus is built.”

The temporary college is scheduled to be finished ahead of the September start of the educational year, with the new campus set to open in September 2016.

It will feature a “Pod” lecture space, classrooms, engineering workshops, science laboratories and leisure areas.

Managing director of SOG Group, John Lewis, said the site was a “perfect fit” for the college.

“I’m sure the college and students will benefit hugely from working in a live business and technology environment where they will have the opportunity to build relationships with specialist technical firms,” he said. “Our team are now working flat out to adapt buildings including existing workshops and labs.”