Evolve professional hair & beauty salon held its official opening ceremony on Wednesday 26th November as specially invited guests visited the new state-of-the-art facilities and saw treatments in action.

Evolve is a new, purpose-built salon with top-of-the-range equipment and facilities, situated at Shrewsbury College. It features ten hair stations, four individual and relaxing treatment rooms and two spa pedicure chairs – the only ones of their type in the county.

It was built as part of the £15 million redevelopment at the College. Specially invited guests including The Mayor of Shrewsbury, Councillor Mrs Beverley Baker who cut the ribbon officially opening the salon, Dave Courteen, Managing Director of Mosaic Spa and Health Clubs and Andy and Emma Rao, Directors of The Best of Shrewsbury, gathered at the event on Wednesday evening, ahead of a community opening evening the following night.

Opening the salon, Councillor Beverley Baker, said: “I am delighted to be here at Shrewsbury College to officially open the new professional hair and beauty salon, Evolve.

“It’s wonderful to see all of the developments that have been taking place here and how the College has changed over the last few years.

“I know that an extensive programme of work has been carried out making London Road a large, all inclusive site, where the majority of the students are now based.

“Evolve opened its doors last month and is a fantastic addition to the College’s business portfolio – strengthening links with the community and giving students in training a place to aspire to work at as part of their work experience. It’s wonderful to see the College placing emphasis on real-life, hands-on experiences to the students of today who will be our citizens of the future and I am proud this salon has opened.”

Erica Coppinger, Evolve Manager, said: “Previously I was a trainer for a professional skincare company covering the North of the UK, southern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and Cyprus. But after three years of visiting many spas and salons around the world I felt ready to put all my industry knowledge into practice and am thrilled to no longer be living out of a suitcase!

“The salon is absolutely stunning and it features top of the range equipment and facilities. Our fully-qualified team offer a huge range of luxury hair services and beauty treatments using hand-picked, industry brands, along with a thorough consultation, advice and guidance service.

“The team includes, former Shrewsbury College Beauty student, Lauren Speake, who is the salon’s full-time beauty technician and is currently studying a HNC in Salon Management here. It’s great for us to be able to offer students this type of opportunity and we want to be a place they can aim high to work at.

“Alongside her is senior hair stylist, Stephen Thompson who has 24-years’ industry experience and has worked for a celebrity hairdresser and Giordana Scott, Hairdressing apprentice who transferred from a course to work at the salon. Hair Lecturer Laura Rogers will also be offering her hair cutting services one Friday a month and I qualified to offer a range of beauty treatments.”

For further information about Evolve, treatments available and its services and to see the price list, please visit www.evolveshrewsbury.co.uk or call 01743 342422.

For more information about Hair, Beauty & Therapies Courses at Shrewsbury College, please call 01743 242411.