With the onset of war in 1939, the major engineering firms had to expand to produce munitions and other vital military equipment. The demand for skilled men, and also now for women, escalated but there was nothing in the education or training field to cope with this demand. The industrial expansion continued but it wasn't until 1944, that the Soke of Peterborough Education Committee established Advisory Committees for Engineering and Building and reorganised courses into the Senior Evening Institute of Commercial and Technical Students, Junior Evening Institute and Adult Institute. Classes were held all over the city but, in 1946, temporary premises were erected on land in Garton End Road to provide space for engineering subjects. Pressure from local firms with education and training policies resulted in the Education Committee supporting a plan for Peterborough Technical College, initially at the Garton End Road site.