HARD-working stakeholders have been praised for their part in a new food-and-drink centre at a ceremony to mark the end of building work.

Advantage West Midlands chairman Alex Stephenson laid the last brick at the Core Food & Drink building, billed as a flagship centre of excellence for the cider, food and drink industries.

Centre head Peter Mitchell said the topping-out ceremony celebrated and recognised the "tremendous hard work and commitment" of stakeholders, who he said had worked in partnership to complete the first stage of the project.

The new centre, part of a £1m development on the site of Pershore College, will highlight the importance of the food and drink sector in the regional and national economy.

Training and education, innovative research and development programmes, consultancy, microbiology food testing and state-of-the-art cider making will all be featured.

"A key aim is to strengthen the industries' capabilities to manufacture, quality assure and promote safe, high-quality products to meet the needs of today's discerning customer," said Mr Mitchell.

"The ceremony was a celebration, not only to recognise the tremendous success of the project and our achievements following our Skills Development funding, but also to publicly thank our suppliers and staff.

"Their commitment and team spirit has ensured we are where we are now.

The future looks prosperous."