A NEW hair and beauty centre at Leigh College has been officially unveiled.

The Image Centre, which is located at the Leigh Sports Village site, has been open since September.

Last week Wigan borough mayor Sue Greensmith cut the ribbon before the former hairdresser was treated to a tour of the site.

She said: "The industry has changed dramatically since my day and to see all this under one roof is amazing.

“It’s important, especially with the wealth of career opportunities in this industry to have this facility close by and with easy access.”

It features a state-of-the-art hair salon with 18 hair styling stations and a beauty room with 13 treatment beds.

Students are also able to work in an IPL (Intense pulsed light) treatment room, theatrical make-up room and a nail salon with 18 work stations.

The facility is an accredited Wella Centre of Excellence and uses industry appraised products such as Dermalogica.

Principal of Leigh College, Anna Dawe said: “The development of this facility will ensure that all our students are fully prepared for the changing nature of the industry.

“It will allow them to take full advantage of the wider job opportunities that are becoming available in the well-being and health sector as well as in areas such as creative arts.”

The centre offers course progression up to Level 4 in Advanced Hairdressing Techniques and gives students the the opportunity to hone their skills on clients.

Head of hair and beauty at Wigan and Leigh College, Lisa Kniveton said: “The Image Centre at Leigh College launch was an amazing success, we were able to showcase the new facilities that are of a high industry standard, providing the latest up to date industry training for our learners and services for our community.

"Our learners experience training from Wella, Elemis, NSI, llamasqua and many more.”