Teesside is attracting a wave of inward investors and it’s not just world-leading research centres, top-quality manufacturing sites and fantastic quality of life that’s enticing them here.
Skills provision on Teesside is one of the key drivers for businesses investing in the area and Middlesbrough College Group is the engine behind that wave of talent.
We’re training people at the cutting edge of technology and knowledge, for careers in chemical and process, clean energy, digital, low carbon and hydrogen, engineering and advanced manufacturing, among others.
In fact, Ofsted recently highlighted our role in delivering the skills that underpin Teesside’s major regeneration projects – particularly Anglo American’s pioneering Woodsmith Project.
This multi-billion pound project is setting a new global benchmark for sustainable, low-environmental impact mining and at the same time promises to support global food production by bringing the game-changing fertiliser polyhalite to the world market.
And it is experts at Middlesbrough College Group’s technical training specialist TTE that are giving Anglo American’s latest cohort of apprentices the skills and competencies they need to lead this sustainable mining approach.
That means giving them the ability to operate advanced technology and the sophisticated engineering know-how to make Anglo American’s vision for 21st century mining a reality.
Gareth Edmunds, corporate relations director at Anglo American’s Crop Nutrients business, said: “Through the Woodsmith Project, Anglo American is investing in North Yorkshire and Teesside and creating hundreds of new jobs.
“Those people are going be at the forefront of Anglo American’s FutureSmart mining programme – deploying the latest cutting-edge technology to make mining as safe, efficient and sustainable as possible. Therefore, we need people with world class technical engineering skills.
“During the next four years we’ll recruit more apprentices who will develop sophisticated electrical, mechanical and instrumentation skills needed to operate the mine.
“In fact, we’re already well underway with our first two cohorts of apprentices who split their time between TTE’s specialist workshop learning facilities and work-based training on site.
“TTE’s team of expert consultants and tutors are delivering for us in spades and are constantly adapting and refining the programme to meet the requirements of the project.”
As well as our work with the international mining leader, we’re also the delivery training partner of choice for some of the most ambitious businesses to invest in the region including global processing company Seqens, and marine services provider Svitzer.
Earlier this year, when Professor Brian Cox CBE helped us launch a £20m investment in a new Digital Centre and expansion of our industry-leading STEM Centre, he said it would put our region at the “forefront of the new industrial revolution”.
That’s because our approach is not only to keep pace with the skills businesses need to innovate and grow, but to stay ahead of the curve and create programmes that meet future requirements.
Through our apprenticeship training arm, Northern Skills Group, we work with more than 2,000 businesses that are benefiting from a mix of professional and technical programmes spanning everything from accounting to welding.
And globally-renowned TTE delivers finely tuned technical training to organisations across the world and has recently worked with the British Steel, offshore oil and gas company MODEC and energy giant Sembcorp.
John Cooke, training operations manager at TTE, explained: “Our training programmes are constantly being created, adapted and refined through our close relationships with businesses.
“Our team is made up of people with real industry experience, many having worked their way up from apprenticeships to senior positions in fields such as petrochemicals, oil and gas and manufacturing.
“It means they’re ideally positioned – with strong professional networks and on-the-ground knowledge – to tailor training to meet specific commercial objectives.
“We’ve done this many times for businesses investing in the North – meeting them early in their planning in order to build skills programmes.”
