Plans have been submitted for a new £4.8 million engineering training centre at Stallingborough.
Humberside Engineering Training Association aims to open a new standalone campus ready for the summer 2023 intake, after 15 years at Catch - where it will become a near neighbour.
The move is designed to boost skills and jobs by meeting employers’ needs while building capacity to support inward investors.
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Joanne Lawson, deputy chief executive of the Hull-headquartered operation, said: “We will be able to offer more opportunities for young people starting out on their careers in engineering and for adults who want to improve their skills or re-train.
“That expansion will in turn create more jobs for instructors, including people who want to move into training and share their skills and experience. There is already strong demand from industry in the area, and that can only increase as more businesses move into a prime development zone.”
The plans now lodged by HETA will add a key element to North East Lincolnshire Council’s £42 million South Humber Industrial Investment Programme, which aims to transform 189 hectares of land to a vibrant employment zone.
It sits close to the proposed Altalto Immingham green jet fuel refinery from Velocys and British Airways, with a new waste-to-energy plant also being brought forward on the doorstep by Czech energy giant EPUKI. Humber Zero, wider hydrogen plans and refinery diversification are all happening in the immediate estuary area too.
HETA has acquired a near three-acre site opposite the new headquarters of high growth eco-microgeneration management specialist Myenergi, just yards from Catch where it relocated to from the former Courtaulds site in Grimsby in 2007.
The beacon facility provider and industry membership organisation has just launched its own apprenticeship scheme to meet the burgeoning demand as a key levelling-up plinth aims to ensure the value offered by vocational training is aligned to academic routes.
Heta's proposed two-storey development will include workshops for individual training in fabrication and welding, machining, electrical and mechanical engineering.
There will be eight classrooms including an IT centre, informal learning and recreation spaces, with a workshop viewing gallery.
Other features will include recreation and dining space, with a host of eco-friendly elements. HETA has already embarked on a series of briefings to alert employers to the opportunities.
Ms Lawson said: “It’s all about increasing the training support for employers across North and North East Lincolnshire and making it part of a package which will help to attract new businesses into the area.”
HETA was founded in 1967 and currently has more than 500 apprentices on programme, working with 350 employers. The company delivers 16 apprenticeship standards, and is proud of the levels reached.
This past year saw HETA receive more than 800 applications for the 210 apprenticeships available at its three sites – Hull, Scunthorpe and Stallingborough, with recruitment now under way for 2022. It led to expansion plans being mooted in October.
