A training business which has been supporting engineering employers for more than 50 years has moved into a new headquarters as part of an investment programme worth around £4.5-million.
Humberside Engineering Training Association (HETA) has relocated its entire Hull operation into the Advanced Engineering Training Centre on Dansom Lane, Hull, and will welcome the first learners into the new facility on Monday 10 September.
HETA has been supported in the move by Hull City Council’s Economic Regeneration team and by the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which secured £1.3-million from the Local Growth Fund through the Northern Powerhouse.
Malcolm Joslin, chair of HETA, said the Advanced Engineering Training Centre will help the nation tackle shortfall of engineers estimated by Engineering UK at up to 59,000 every year.
He said: “We are continuing to address the skills shortage in the Humber region by providing industry-leading training in the engineering sector.
“The advanced facilities and courses that the Humber LEP grant will help deliver have been designed in partnership with the businesses that HETA works alongside. This ensures that they are highly relevant, and equip our students with the skills they need to progress into successful and well-paid engineering careers.”
HETA opened in 1967 and has launched the engineering careers of thousands of young people, maintaining the original commitment to operate as an employer-led organisation. A registered charity, it relocated to purpose-built premises in Copenhagen Road, Hull, in 1978 and has also opened sites at Foxhills in Scunthorpe and at CATCH in Stallingborough.
The business employs more than 70 people across the three sites and expects to recruit more as a result of the new investment. It is training more than 600 apprentices in partnership with more than 300 employers.
The new centre occupies part of a site previously occupied by the Eltherington Group and provides nearly 34,000 square feet of space which has now been refurbished and repurposed to create industry-standard workshop spaces, IT and electronics labs and industrial training rigs.
The move also improves accessibility for students with better transport links, and enhanced amenities and social spaces. In addition, the new centre will widen HETA’s commercial proposition, with the development of meeting and conferencing facilities.
Iain Elliott, Chief Executive of HETA, said: “This new centre will provide more training opportunities for young people and for those already employed and will enable HETA to develop bespoke training packages for employers across the Humber region and beyond.
“The size and scale should give confidence to prospective employers who are looking to relocate to Hull, giving them the assurance that they can get the right type of technical training for their business.
“This project just would not have been possible or as successful without support from colleagues at the Humber LEP and Hull City Council and we thank them all.”
Hull City Council Leader Stephen Brady said: “We are very pleased that HETA is investing in Hull, in the shape of a £4.5 million refurbishment of the facility in Dansom Lane.
“Thanks to the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership in partnership with Hull City Council, HETA were able to secure £1.3 million of funding from the Local Growth Fun to secure the move. HETA is a fantastic local organisation and we wish them all the best in their new home.”
Stephen Savage, Chair of the Humber LEP’s Employment and Skills Board, said: “The Humber LEP has a core ambition for a skilled and productive workforce and HETA is an established and experienced provider of engineering skills across the Humber. This investment will have a transformational impact on HETA’s facilities, profile and curriculum provision.
“Access to new training facilities that meet the needs of our local economy is helping to drive improvements to our skills levels in the Humber, and our unemployment rate is falling as a result.”
