A purpose-built plant operator training centre has been built on HS2’s A422 Brackley Road compound in Westbury, Bucks.
It is run by Flannery Plant Hire, in cooperation with EKFB, the joint venture of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and Bam Nuttall.
They reckon that they can get someone off the streets and onto site in just two weeks.
Westbury is Flannery’s second Operator Skills Hub; it also has one in Sutton Coldfield that it set up last year in conjunction with Balfour Beatty.
Flannery has funding from the Department for Education to deliver a range of training programmes, including its two-week ‘skills bootcamp’ in plant operations, which is free to local residents over the age of 19 and ends with all the accreditation needed to start work as a plant operator.
EKFB is building an 80km section of HS2 between the Chiltern Tunnel and Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire. EKFB programme director Emmanuel Rossigno said: “We will need thousands of skilled plant operatives to help build the new railway and Flannery, EKFB and HS2 are providing an opportunity for people to be part of this once in a lifetime project, as well as equipping them with desirable transferable skills for the future.”
Jhen-Nel Swanston, HS2’s skills manager for the region, said: “The new Operator Skills Hub will allow local residents, and those who are 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 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.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
