Catch Skills – the delivery arm of the process industry training facility and cluster organisation at Stallingborough – has been named as ECITB’s Approved Training Provider of the Year.
Launched less than three years ago, those behind the venture believe the step up to self provision was central to the success, together with the industry-leading facilities it has developed.
They include the Hughes Building, a dedicated new centre on the campus, and the ability to take mobile rigs to client sites across the country.
In providing for 1,500 delegates in the past year, and 4,000 across wider courses, Catch Skills has delivered in Loch Sheil, Gosport and Bridgend, sending mobile pipework rigs featuring gaskets, valves and flanges.
Chief executive David Talbot said: “Catch is honoured to win this award from the ECITB. It was only three years ago that we set up Catch Skills and during that time it has become a leading industrial skills provider for the region.
“This award is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work from the entire Catch team and also highlights the strong relationship that we have with the ECITB at all levels.”
The ECITB (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) held the annual bash at The Montcalm London Marble Arch.
James McIntosh, director of Catch Engineering Training Partnership, said “We are officially the number one training provider in the UK, which is great for us.
“The transition of Catch from being purely a membership organisation providing the facilities to a skills organisation has certainly been recognised. We have seen rapid growth in the past two and a half years – we only been going since May 2017 – so it has been a really rapid rise for us.
“At the forefront for us is the links we have with ECITB employers, it allows us to offer holistic services for training, not just a course. It is about working with them to develop training, making sure the right solutions fit the right needs. The focus for us is quality, and we feel that is another reason why we have been recognised. We have industry-leading facilities but also the flexibility this year to deliver courses at client sites.”
Catch as a facility replicates the industrial environment, from pass systems to access the site to controls and simulators. Until the launch of Catch skills, providers were welcomed to the site, provided and managed by the small team. Now it delivers alongside third parties at the heart of the South Humber Bank. Maersk Training has been the latest high-profile arrival to serve the offshore wind cluster.
Looking ahead, Mr McIntosh said: “The key for us is to capitalise on it. It opens doors with more national ECITB companies, we can go to them and say to them “We are the top-ranked training provider. It is important now we establish ourselves as a valued training organisation, working with employers from wider industries, not just chemicals or oil and gas.”
