Water company United Utilities is opening a new £1.5 million technical training centre today to tackle a looming skills shortage.
The North West firm has created the centre at Bolton as part of its training and apprenticeship programme aimed at sourcing the next generation of water engineers.
The purpose-built centre will be opened today by Employment Minister Esther McVey who will take a tour of the facility and meet some of the young apprentices who are already learning the ropes.
The initiative is part of a drive by the FTSE 100 company to source more than 1,000 new engineers and technical employees by 2023.
Sally Cabrini, business services director at United Utilities, explained:
“It’s critical that we invest in the people and the skills to run our organisation effectively in the future. Across the utility sector we have an aging workforce and we’ve got to pass on their skills to the next generation before time runs out. We estimate that around half of the current workforce will have left or retired over the next decade.”
The training centre has been created at one of United Utilities’ working sites, Bolton wastewater treatment works, by extending and refurbishing a redundant operational building.
The facilities, including mechanical and electrical workshops, a laboratory and even a mock sewer system, were designed by time-served engineers who have taken qualifications in education and training. Twelve employees at United Utilities have up-skilled in this way to work as trainers, passing on their experience to around 70 trainees each day.
United Utilities’ apprenticeship programme, which has a new intake of 30-40 young people each year, is fully accredited and all who successfully complete the four-year course are offered a job at the company.
A new report published earlier this week is warning that the upcoming skills shortage could lead to higher costs and delays for the UK water sector
The UK energy and utility sector needs some 200,000 new engineers over the coming decade. Around 90 employers, including United Utilities and National Grid, have come together to form the Energy and Efficiency Industrial Partnership (EEIP) to fill the skills gap.
The EEIP is the biggest Government supported scheme of its type and the employers in the partnership will match £33m of Government funding over the next three years. It will help deliver around 70,000 new learning opportunities including apprenticeships and traineeships.
The Bolton technical training centre will provide the dedicated facilities for some of these apprenticeships and traineeships, plus the up-skilling of existing employees.
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