Newly-badged Engineering College relaunches after £500,000 revamp

THE newly-named Engineering College at Birkenhead on the Wirral has unveiled its new company brand following a £500,000 refurbishment of its 70,000sq ft facilities.

Engineering College, formerly known as the Laird Foundation and more recently the Maritime & Engineering College, is based next to Cammell Laird at Monk’s Ferry.

First founded in 1998 the college now has a turnover of £1.7m and 38 staff.  It has grown apprentice numbers to 330, drawn from 70 clients ranging from large private businesses including Cammell Laird, Balfour Beatty and Clarke Energy to SMEs including Sovex and Laker Vent.

But the Engineering College’s chief executive Terry Weston said he wanted the new brand and improved facilities to double the size of the college over five years, plugging the “massive engineering skills shortage” in the region.

He said: “The college has been very successful but our profile needs to be higher and we want to be better understood by the marketplace.

“This is why we have rebranded. Historically we have been seen wrongly as working mainly in the maritime industry. Our offer is much broader, we can train apprentices and staff across sectors including construction, nuclear, petrochemical, renewables, oil and gas and the NHS – as well as maritime.”

Asif Hamid, interim chair of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “I am extremely pleased to see Growth Deal funding being allocated to our City Region Colleges.

“This investment will further support the work done at the Engineering College to tackle the skills shortage in the City Region and drive growth across the engineering sector.”

Cllr Ian Maher, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Portfolio Lead for Employment and Skills added: “We are pleased to have made this £243,000 co-investment from our Skills Capital Investment Fund (secured via the Growth Deal) in the Engineering College’s recent refurbishment.

“Apprentices and other learners will benefit from additional classroom space and the purchase of high tech engineering equipment to train with including a virtual welding simulator.

“This investment is part of a multi-million pound commitment to enhance successful training facilities across Liverpool City Region to give more young people and adults the skills needed to gain high quality employment.”

Weston said he wanted companies, who are struggling to find skilled engineers, to see the Engineering College as a solution to the problem.

He said: “We know there is a shortage of engineers and we know that is holding businesses and public sector organisations back, a factor keenly identified by the LEP.

“But the Engineering College can help. Firstly we want to emphasise we are the only dedicated engineering skills college in the region.

“This means we can provide a range of 20 high skill craft and technician training routes to becoming qualified in engineering that are simply not offered at any other colleges.

“Moreover, no other Merseyside college can match the calibre of our industry standard facilities which are rated outstanding by OFSTED, or the standard of our engineering teaching which is rated ‘good’ by OFSTED.

“Our newly improved facilities include welding and fabrication bays, heavy lift equipment, a CNC machine shop, an electronic workshop and a whole collection of new hi tech, IT based engineering simulation equipment.

“The size of our facilities also enables clients to bring in large machinery so apprentices can receive realistic training on their equipment.

“All this makes the Engineering College fit for purpose and uniquely able to meet the needs of industry. We urge interested business across the region, particularly in the SME sector, to come and meet our team and see our first class facilities.”

Weston said a key strength of the Engineering College is that it can also offer pre trained ‘work ready’ apprentices for employers.

He said: “We can save employers time and money by having a constant supply of apprenticeship applicants who have already undertaken our rigorous pre-apprenticeship programme.

 “This helps us weed out those who are not suited to certain career choices and ensure the candidates, with the right attitude and approach, are properly trained in safety procedures and can start straight away. This is a big headache off employers’ hands.”

Weston said the Engineering College will also be running courses for former Armed Forces personnel offering career transfer training. The college will further run non-technical training including first aid, working at height and confined space rescue.

In addition, the Engineering College will be running courses in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University including Engineering Undergraduate skills, International Marine Engineering skills as well as a development project for creating Higher and Degree Apprenticeships tailored to the region.