NHBC officially opened its new Training Hub on Thursday morning, located at Keepmoat’s The Rise development in Scotswood. The training centre will aim to support the next generation of house builders in the North East.
The hub will train over 100 apprentices every year and will focus initially on bricklaying. The purpose-built facility will get apprentices used to a realistic working environment.
This Hub is the second training facility built by NHBC, the first of which was opened in Tamworth in 2021. This furthers their commitment to supporting the next generation, giving them the skills they need to go on to build new homes at a high standard. The scheme will run all year round with several different intakes of new apprentices throughout the year.
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The NHBC Training Hub has been built in partnership with Keepmoat, New Tyne West Development Company (NTWDC), Newcastle City Council and North of Tyne Combined Authority.
NHBC Director David Campbell opened the event and has given his thoughts on the importance of the training hub.
“It’s vital we attract more young people into house building to help address skills shortages and the challenge of an ageing workforce."
“Our Training Hubs provide a realistic work environment where we can deliver an accelerated, front loaded, block release, homebuilding focused, bricklaying apprenticeship. Open to all house builders and their supply chain in the area, we look forward to doing our bit in tackling the skills shortage and equipping apprentices with the skills to build high quality new homes.”
Owen Tierney is an example of the great work that is being done at these training hubs, as despite him being from Fenham, he would commute three hours down to Tamworth in order to be a part of the scheme.
The 18 year old is now the face of this new hub in his local area, and has benefitted greatly from his training.
"I signed up when I found out about it from Westgate College and even though it was a long commute I decided to just go for it. It is great that the new hub has opened here as my travel time has gone down from three hours to 10 minutes."
"I am planning on sticking with bricklaying and am hoping to take it on as a future career."
NHBC has plans to expand this operation further, with two more hubs in Hull and Cambridge in development and others in the works. They also want to focus on other trades such as training electricians and carpenters and are hoping to make these steps in the next few years.
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