ECITB provides £400,000 funding boost to Energy Transition Skills Hub

The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) has awarded £400,000 to help deliver the North East’s new Energy Transition Skills Hub.

The collaborative venture is being driven by the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ Ltd), Shell UK and NESCol as part of a consortium of private and public investment.

The extra funding, which comes from the ECITB’s investment in regional skills hubs, will further support the establishment and operation of the training facility, which is designed to help meet the current and future training needs of the energy transition.

The ECITB investment will fund the equipping and fitting of a modern welding academy within the facility, including 32 welding bays, to help meet the growing demand for welders in the region.

ECITB Chief Executive Andrew Hockey said: “Our Labour Forecasting Tool predicts that the ECI could need thousands of additional workers over the coming years for major projects, including those that contribute to the country’s net zero goals.

“Without a pipeline of trained, skilled workers all this risks not being achieved, which is why we’re working with industry partners in the UK’s industrial cluster regions to grow the number of skilled engineers and craftspeople we need now and in the future.

“As an integral part of workforce development and supporting the pipeline of new recruits into the energy industry, the Skills Hub will be central to the success of the long-term project to support the transition to renewable energies in North East Scotland.

“The ECITB is delighted to support the project, with the proposal highlighting the commitment of industry partners to be involved in the designing, equipping and curriculum planning for the facility.”

The project has already received £4.5 million from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund, £2.3 million from ETZ Ltd and £500,000 from NESCol to transform a disused dairy adjacent to the college’s Aberdeen Altens Campus into a state-of-the-art skills facility.

Shell has also committed £1.8m towards the running costs of the Hub for the first five years with a view to supporting 1,000 jobs in the region, which sits in the 40-hectare Energy Transition Zone.

The Hub will include community space for local groups and a new, flexible curriculum, including weekend and evening courses, to increase the availability of training for individuals who experience barriers in accessing traditional modes of attendance, such as adult returners.

The project will also see the deployment of an outreach mobile vehicle to promote careers in the energy sector. The vehicle is available to visit all 27 secondary schools in North East Scotland, reaching potentially 15,000 pupils a year.

The ECITB, alongside the founding partners and other industry representatives, will be part of an industry liaison group to help shape the curriculum.

Subject areas covered by NESCol at the Hub will include welding, wind, general engineering and fabrication skills, carbon capture, usage and storage, renewables, hydrogen and electrical.

Robin McGregor, NESCol Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality, said: “The Energy Transition Skills Hub is a hugely significant project for the college and our partners.

“NESCol works very closely with industry to ensure the skills required in the jobs market are reflected in the courses we offer and the learning environment we create, with the new facility underlining the ambition the partners share as a driving force in the journey to net zero.

“This investment in the environmental and economic sustainability of the region comes at a time of great opportunity for the north east and the college has a crucial role to play in ensuring the knowledge, skills and expertise that provide the foundation for energy transition are at the heart of that bright future.”

ECITB Regional Skills Hubs funding is designed to boost training provider capacity and grow new entrant numbers in industrial cluster hot spots and other major engineering construction centres of activity to help address skills shortages in the industry. Regional Skills Hubs funding grants of between £50,000 and £500,000 are available to ECI projects that meet set criteria.