Fifty-five million pounds is to be injected into regenerating some of the poorest parts of Birmingham and Solihull.

And a recently completed £18 million construction college which is teaching thousands of youngsters vital skills in building-related trades was the venue for the launch of a three-year plan on how to spend the money.

The Construction Centre of Excellence, in Bordesley Green, aims to train 2,500 students a year to become bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, plasterers, roofers, pipe-fitters and other skilled workers up to NVQ3 standard.

The project is a flagship scheme in the East Birmingham North Solihull Regeneration Zone, one of six zones established by Advantage West Midlands.

The Zone, which stretches from Aston Science Park, through Eastside and Bordesley Green into Chelmsley Wood, is already part-funding large scale projects, including the Construction Centre where professional qualifications will be available in disciplines such as site management and quantity surveying, up to degree level.

Training students to enter the construction trade will be increasingly important to ensure the massive physical infrastructure projects planned for the region over the next decade can benefit people living locally.

Other projects already receiving or allocated funding from the Zone include:

* The £5.1 million refurbishment of the Bordesley Centre in Stratford Road, Camp Hill, which aims to help Birmingham people access job opportunities being created at Eastside.

* North Solihull Learning Village - a £13.6 million development for Solihull College as its North Solihull site.

* HRH Shard End - a £3.5 million scheme which will see students from the Construction Centre of Excellence help to build a community project.

* Eastside - funding worth £5 million each year towards the development of the Learning and Leisure Quarter.

* Employment Transport Link - a £600,000 subsidy scheme which has enabled hundreds of people get to work.

Advantage West Midlands director for Birmingham and Solihull Rosie Paskins said: "One of the key principles underpinning the rationale for regeneration zones is that the majority of AWM funding is directed to areas where it is most needed

"In fact, around 70 per cent is channelled into the areas covered by the zones and already the results in projects like the Construction Centre of Excellence are starting to show.

"The Construction Centre will help ensure the much discussed crisis in construction skills is addressed in an area where not only is there huge demand from students to learn these skills, but which, over the next decade, will be able to supply people to work on the massive building projects across the region.

"Over the next three years, the East Birmingham North Solihull Regeneration Zone will invest over £50 million to help some of the most deprived communities to access opportunities which would otherwise be denied them.

"Now the Zone Implementation Plan has been endorsed by Advantage West Midlands, the Zone will be able to press ahead with delivering the projects which will truly make a difference."

John Taylor, chairman of the Zone, said: "We want to create a climate in which local businesses thrive and residents are able to obtain the skills they need to compete effectively for job opportunities."