Wirral’s Engineering College reopens following £500k investment

The Maritime & Engineering College is adopting a new brand this week after carrying out a £500k refurb of its 79,000 sq ft facilities in Birkenhead.

Part-funded through the Liverpool City Region’s Growth Deal, the six-figure project will see the centre move forward as Engineering College.

To coincide with the relaunch, CEO Terry Weston revealed plans to address what he considers to be a “massive engineering skills shortage” in the North West by doubling the size of the college over five years.

He said: “The college has been very successful but our profile needs to be higher and we want to be better understood by the marketplace.

“This is why we have rebranded. Historically we have been seen wrongly as working mainly in the maritime industry.”

Terry added: “Our offer is much broader, we can train apprentices and staff across sectors including construction, nuclear, petrochemical, renewables, oil and gas and the NHS – as well as maritime.”

Since it was founded in 1998 the college, located next to shipbuilding firm Cammell Laird’s operations in Monk’s Ferry, has grown to employ a team of 38 staff on a turnover of £1.7m.

The interim chair of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, Asif Hamid, commented: “I am extremely pleased to see Growth Deal funding being allocated to our City Region Colleges.

“This investment will further support the work done at the Engineering College to tackle the skills shortage in the City Region and drive growth across the engineering sector.”

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Portfolio Lead for Employment and Skills, Cllr Ian Maher, said: “We are pleased to have made this £243k co-investment from our Skills Capital Investment Fund (secured via the Growth Deal) in the Engineering College’s recent refurbishment.

“Apprentices and other learners will benefit from additional classroom space and the purchase of high tech engineering equipment to train with including a virtual welding simulator.”

He continued: “This investment is part of a multi-million pound commitment to enhance successful training facilities across Liverpool City Region to give more young people and adults the skills needed to gain high quality employment.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →