Melanie Onn MP and Martin Vickers MP today opened the new facility at CATCH’s Skills and Apprenticeships Centre. The opening represents a significant milestone in CATCH’s commitment to fostering the green skills needed for the energy transition whilst helping to deliver economic growth locally in the Humber, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire regions.

During the visit, Melanie and Martin met students, tutors and local businesses and reiterated that skills and green jobs are at the forefront of this government’s agenda.

Following the opening, Melanie Onn, the Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, said: “Investment in green initiatives like this is vital as we work to grow North East Lincolnshire’s economy. It’s great to see so many businesses putting funding into our area, and I look forward to seeing how things progress as the Humber Skills Plan unfolds.

This new facility is really exciting in particular. It will provide so many new opportunities for young people across the region, helping to get more of them into STEM careers.”

The expansion was made possible by a £1.5 million funding investment from sponsors in the region. These include Viking CCS members Phillips 66 Limited, Harbour Energy, Drax and ABP together with Air Products, Uniper, the ECITB and Humber Freeport.

CATCH is poised to play a pivotal role in steering more young individuals towards STEM careers, as part of the broader Humber Skills Plan to increase training output by tenfold by 2029. This latest funding initiative has had a substantial impact on its facility:

• More than doubling the entry capacity, CATCH will increase its intake from 100 to approximately 220 apprentices.
• Tripling the welding and grinding bay capacity to 80 bays, which have been identified as critical skill gaps needed to power the UK’s energy transition.
• The facility has already welcomed a new cohort of apprentices this September 2024.

The project is also supporting the local businesses with all contract work executed by local specialists and within their teams, including apprentices from three different trades. The construction was completed in 53 days, amassing over 10,000 hours of work.

Following this first phase of funding, CATCH has an ambitious expansion plan to develop a new £60 million National Net Zero Training Centre by 2029, aiming to deliver education to 1,000 learners a year, targeted at the skills needed by net zero projects. The Centre will fill the skills gaps which exist in sectors such as Carbon Capture and Storage, green steel, gigafactories, and hydrogen.

David Talbot, CATCH CEO, said: “To advance the decarbonisation journey, we urgently need more pipefitters, platers, welders, and fabricators. No single company can do this alone, which is why collaboration has been key in addressing the ever-growing skills gap in these crucial trades. And this collaboration is unprecedented; no other UK cluster has come together to narrow the industrial skills gap so proactively. CATCH has always been at the forefront of industrial skills development, and this is just the beginning.”

Graeme Davies, EVP CCS at Harbour Energy, says: “The UK’s net zero goals will only be realised if we have thousands of skilled workers, from welders and pipefitters to process engineers. CATCH’s Skills and Apprenticeships Centre is a fantastic opportunity to build a strong and prosperous workforce for the future and support leading projects such as Viking CCS. We are very happy to play a leading role in this significant expansion of CATCH, helping to provide the skilled workers the major projects in the region will need in the coming years.”

Paul Fursey, Lead Executive UK and Humber Refinery General Manager says: “To build the infrastructure required to deliver net zero for the UK, we need to invest in creating the skilled workforce of tomorrow. CATCH’s new welding and fabrication training Centre will become a hub of excellence, demonstrating how the UK can increase the knowledge and skills needed to deliver the net zero targets. Through support from Phillips 66 Limited and our fellow delivery sponsors, local industry support, and local schools and colleges, we believe we can make a powerful difference to inspire the next generation of welders, pipefitters, mechanical fitters, platers, scaffolders and much more.”

Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) CEO Andrew Hockey says: “The ECITB was delighted to support CATCH as it continues to develop a pipeline of trained, skilled workers for major engineering construction projects in the Humber region. We know from our Labour Forecasting Tool (LFT) that the labour demand gap for new workers in the engineering construction industry will get wider with an estimated shortfall of 40,000 workers by 2028. Our £300,000 investment through our Regional Skills Hubs funding will support the training of more skilled workers as part of ambitious expansion plans to support the UK’s largest industrial cluster contribute to the country’s net zero goals.”