The Operator Skills Hub, a new Bucks and Northants HS2 training centre from EKFB and Flannery Plant Hire, will prepare local people for jobs in a fortnight
Flannery Plant Hire has joined forces with HS2’s construction partner group EKFB (Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall), to create an Operator Skills Hub that can upskill local people ready for jobs on HS2 in as little as two weeks.
The purpose-built training centre for Bucks and Northants residents is located on HS2’s A422 Brackley Road compound in Westbury to give trainees first-hand experience of how the skills they develop can be utilised in the construction of HS2.
DoE funding supports the range of skills boot camps and apprenticeships available at the Operator Skills Hub
Flannery Plant Hire secured funding from the Department for Education to deliver a broad range of training programmes, including its two-week ‘Skills Bootcamp’ in plant operations, which is free to local residents over the age of 19.
The two-week programme provides all the training and accreditation needed to start work as a plant operator.
The programmes are specifically designed to support those most in need or who are looking for a career change to develop new skills and secure employment in record time.
The purpose-built training centre, which has opened its doors and is already training over 100 new recruits, includes a 16-seat classroom, three indoor plant simulators and a four-acre outdoor space for practical training and assessments.
The Operator Skills Hub will also deliver 12-month Trailblazer apprenticeships, which provide candidates with the skills and certification needed to operate four different types of plant machinery.
The Skills Hub has the capacity to deliver 400 Skills Bootcamp trainees and 100 Trailblazer apprenticeships every year, and the team behind the new centre hope to attract a further 200 people onto their bespoke two-week Skills Bootcamp over the next five months.
Upskilling opportunities are also available, which ensures the Hub is accessible to anyone in the local area who wants to progress or start a new career in plant operations.
A mobile training centre will also visit schools and careers fairs
The region’s Skills Advisory Panel has supported the Hub by providing funding for a complementary mobile training centre to assist in upskilling the next generation.
With classroom space and its own plant training simulator, the mobile centre will be used to engage job seekers at local careers fares- as well as provide a link to schools and colleges to demonstrate the local training and careers opportunities available.
Improving employment in the local area and creating a skills legacy
Emmanuel Rossigno, programme director at EKFB, said:
“The Skills Hub is a fantastic initiative, and we’re pleased to see it doing so well. Being able to provide quality, hands-on training and experience to local people and those wishing to enhance their skills is important to EKFB. We want to leave a skills legacy that will improve people’s lives, as well as bring more people into the project.”
Jhen-Nel Swanston, HS2’s skills manager for the region, said:
“The new Operator Skills Hub will allow local residents, and those out of work, to access free training and develop skills for life, which they can quickly put to use in well-paid jobs in the immediate area.
“We have an extensive construction programme ahead of us and a shortage of skilled plant operatives from the local area, which means our construction partners and their contractors are offering long-term opportunities with fantastic career development.”
