Plans have been submitted for a new £4.8m engineering training centre which is designed to boost skills and jobs by meeting the existing needs of employers and by building capacity to support inward investors.
Humberside Engineering Training Association (HETA) aims to open the new centre in Stallingborough, North East Lincolnshire, in August 2023 as a bigger and more modern replacement for the site which it currently operates.
Joanne Lawson, Deputy Chief Executive of HETA, said: “We will be able to offer more opportunities for young people starting out on their careers in engineering and for adults who want to improve their skills or re-train.
“That expansion will in turn create more jobs for instructors, including people who want to move into training and share their skills and experience. There is already strong demand from industry in the area, and that can only increase as more businesses move into a prime development zone.”
The plans now lodged by HETA will add a key element to North East Lincolnshire Council’s £42m South Humber Industrial Investment Programme (SHIIP) project, which is transforming a total of 189 hectares of land along the south bank of the Humber to create attractive new opportunities for business and industry.
HETA has acquired the site of nearly three acres opposite the headquarters of renewables specialist myenergi, which opened in 2021. The new development will provide two storeys with facilities including workshops to enable individual training in fabrication and welding, machining, electrical and mechanical engineering.
There will be eight classrooms including an IT centre, informal learning and recreation spaces and a workshop viewing gallery.
Other features will include recreation and dining space and the building will benefit from sustainable drainage, eco-friendly landscaping and lighting and a low maintenance sustainable heating system with PV solar units on the roof.
The site will have parking for cars, bikes and motorbikes, all supported by new access roads.
HETA has already embarked on a series of briefings to alert employers to the opportunities which will be provided by the new centre.
Ms Lawson said: “We’ll be releasing more details in further presentations to employers as the project nears completion. It’s all about increasing the training support for employers across North and North East Lincolnshire and making it part of a package which will help to attract new businesses into the area.”
HETA was founded in 1967 and currently has more than 500 apprentices on programme, working with 350 employers. The company delivers 16 apprenticeship standards and returns Higher Nationals pass rates of 100 per cent at Level 5 and 88 per cent at Level 4 as well as 98 per cent at BTEC Level 3.
In 2021 HETA received more than 800 applications for the 210 apprenticeships available at its three sites – Hull, Scunthorpe and Stallingborough. The company is recruiting now for its 2022 cohort and is again experiencing high levels of interest for apprenticeships and for Higher National qualifications.
