Engineering training centre key part of inward investment ambitions

Construction work has begun on a £5.5m engineering training centre which is part of a “transformational” development site in North East Lincolnshire.

Humberside Engineering Training Association (HETA) is creating the site in Stallingborough. It will welcome 70 learners next August and capacity will increase to meet the needs of the region’s employers.

The training centre is at Pioneer Business Park, part of North East Lincolnshire Council’s £42m South Humber Industrial Investment Programme (SHIIP) project.

The SHIIP project is regenerating 189 hectares of land and HETA has acquired nearly three acres to build the two-storey centre, which will provide facilities including workshops to enable individual training in fabrication and welding, machining, electrical and mechanical engineering.

Cllr Philip Jackson, leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, added: “It’s great to see this development on site at Stallingborough – another milestone in the shaping of the business park.

“We’re committed to helping provide the best facilities for our young people to train for their future, helping to retain people and skills, and provide the best workforce we can for our future economy.”

HETA secured planning permission last month and construction company Hobson & Porter has recently started work on site.

The company also worked on HETA’s Hull headquarters, which opened in 2018 after the £4.5m acquisition and conversion of a former factory.

HETA also operates a training centre at Foxhills in Scunthorpe, which it opened in 2014. It currently has more than 500 apprentices on programme, working with 350 employers.

Joanne Lawson, deputy chief executive of HETA, said: “Everything we do at HETA is led by employers – that’s always been our ethos. We develop new courses as and when they are requested and required. We are flexible, we can move quickly to put things in place and that’s what we are doing in Stallingborough.

“North East Lincolnshire Council know that the new training facilities will help to attract new companies into the area and we are working together to raise awareness of the new centre among businesses.”