Work starts on college’s £3.2m clean energy education hub

CONSTRUCTION of Redcar and Cleveland College’s (RCC) Clean Energy Education Hub is underway, in a move to help prepare people for future green jobs coming to the Tees region.

The £3.2m facility in Corporation Road will deliver the skills needed by employers in the clean energy and renewable sector, and is also intended to drive the ambitions of young people across the borough.

RCC principal Jason Faulkner said: “We have been bowled over by the level of support this initiative has generated, both across the region and nationally.”

Primarily funded by the Town Deal Fund, the hub will provide a practical learning environment that simulates real workspaces, to service domestic and industrial markets.

The college is working with the Redcar Town Deal Board, Redcar and Cleveland Council, the combined authority and industry leaders to ensure the hub is positioned to support the area’s emerging green economy.

Mr Faulkner said: “Teesside and the Tees Valley is lining itself up to be a green cluster for global businesses leading the way in greener, cleaner ways of living and working.

“By working with leaders in the clean and renewable energy industry we will be able to ensure a training provision that responds to the real demands of the sector, not just in the short term but also in five, 10, 15 years’ time.”

Contractor Britcon has been appointed to deliver the project, a 1000sqm complex linked to the college’s existing building. Doors are due to open to its first learners in January 2023.

With additional investment from the Education Training Collective and the Skills Development Fund, the hub will deliver training to school leavers and adult learners, as well as offering higher education, commercial, professional, and bespoke employer-led programmes.

The project has also been promised a donation from BP, which will be used to educate local schoolchildren about the opportunities in the clean energy sector.

Darren Winter, chair of the Redcar Town Deal Board, said: “The hub is great news for all young people in the borough, which is specially designed to equip them with the relevant skills needed in jobs now and in the future, especially in sectors in emerging technologies.”

Mary Lanigan, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, added: “The hub will provide a fantastic opportunity for residents to gain the skills which will lead to a well-paid and successful career in the industries of the future.

“Our borough will be at the heart of a green energy revolution, and we want all our residents to benefit from this.”

Describing Teesside as being “at the epicentre of the UK’s clean industrial future”, Jacob Young, Conservative MP for Redcar, said: “With everything from new hydrogen technology to the manufacturing of wind farm blades coming to Teesside, renewable energy is perhaps the most crucial link in that chain.

“What is more crucial still is that it is Teessiders who benefit from the high-quality, well-paid jobs being created in this exciting new sector.

“And so I not only welcome, but applaud the creation of Redcar and Cleveland College’s £3.2m Clean Energy Education Hub.

“By providing Teessiders with the training programmes our new industry needs, we’re ensuring local people will become the primary beneficiaries of the UK’s green industrial revolution.”

Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen added: “I’m delighted to see spades in the ground on this exciting project. Schemes like these are helping to give current and future generations the best possible chance to take advantage of the opportunities we’re creating within the safer, cleaner and healthier industries of tomorrow.

“With the government and major global companies such as BP investing in Teesside, this centre will help support the sectors of the future that are central to my plan for jobs, a plan that is already creating good-quality, well-paid jobs for local workers.

“This is the latest in a long list of initiatives boosting our region’s clean energy credentials, building on our work to become the UK’s premier location for offshore wind and supporting projects like Net Zero Teesside which is developing the UK’s first decarbonised industrial cluster.

“Together these will supercharge plans for Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool to become a national powerhouse for clean energy.”