Revamped engineering college celebrates £500K revamp with surge in business

The Engineering College at Birkenhead on Merseyside has its official launch following a £500,000 refurbishment with a surge in new business.

Its chief executive Terry Weston announced to guests that the college was experiencing a sharp rise in new client wins, including its latest deal with a metal recycling firm employing more than 4,000 people.

Weston told the audience that the new brand is proving effective at changing attitudes towards the college which had previously been seen as maritime only focused.

“We’re delighted to report 18 new clients have been attracted to the college since we had a soft launch of our new brand in the autumn,” he said. “We now work with more than 90 clients, ranging from large private businesses to SMEs, and train more than 330 apprentices.
 
“This demonstrates the wide range of engineering companies we can work with and courses we offer. No other college on Merseyside can match the standard of our engineering facilities or range of engineering courses.  We are actively looking to further expand into wider areas of engineering maintenance including: lift engineering, recycling and composites.”

Weston added: “The college has been very successful but our profile needs to be higher and we want to be better understood by the marketplace. That was the purpose of our rebranding exercise.

“And it appears to be working. More and more companies are recognising that our offer is much broader than the maritime industry. We can train apprentices and staff across sectors including construction, nuclear, petrochemical, renewables, oil and gas and the NHS. Our expertise is deep and wide ranging.”

Labour MP and Liverpool Region Metro-Mayor candidate Steve Rotheram was guest speaker at the event.

He emphasised the importance of engineering skills training to the region.

Rotheram said: “It was a great pleasure to be invited to the Engineering College to address guests about apprenticeships. I am a former apprentice myself, so know the value of investing in quality training.”

Close