The Skills Centre
In today’s dynamic business world, many organisations strive to do things differently, some enjoy degrees of success in achieving this, others not so much.
Doing things differently is in the ‘DNA’ of The Skills Centre. Over 10 years ago the then fledgling training company successfully bid for and ultimately won a contract to provide services and training outcomes in collaboration with main contractor, Lendlease on a site in Elephant & Castle.
This was a collaboration that was, at that time, ground breaking, pun intended! The Skills Centre were proposing to place their training environment directly on the site of the partner organisation.
Speaking about those early days Group Commercial Director, Sam Downton explains ‘it was a very difficult time as there was considerable push back from residents in the areas who were against the development. The area at the time was very difficult, almost a ‘no go zone’ for non-residents. There were even protests in the streets to the development, explains Sam.
Eventually winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the residents, the collaboration between Lendlease, the local council, Southwark, and the Skills Centre created over 1,000 jobs in the borough.
This ‘on-site’ training solution, where training provision was incorporated into the physical site was the first of its kind in the construction sector.
It is this outcome that formed the underpinning model that the Skills Centre CEO, Jon Howlin, Sam and the team created with a view to replicate on all future development sites.
Fast forward to 2024 and now with 4 London sites, Earls Court, Stratford (Build East), Docklands (Canada Water), Edgeware. There are further national sites in Essex, Kent, West Midlands and Buckinghamshire.
Formed in 2014 and currently employing just under 100 people the Skills Centre organisation has a turnover of £10M and is targeting growth to £14M for 2025.
When visiting a Skills Centre site, on this occasion, the Stratford based ‘Build East’ site, within striking distance of what was the site of the London Olympics in 2012, the first aspect you notice is its appearance.
The site is simply put, immaculate. It is well laid out and well thought out. Once past the security gates visitors are made to feel incredibly welcome by the staff on site, a special mention in this regard must go to Dwayne!
All of the Skills Centre’s sites follow this very successful formula, making all their sites welcoming and a very positive environment in which to learn. A visitor to the site is, as you would expect, required to register their attendance by ‘signing in’. No crumpled paper visitors book to be seen here, this, as is often the case now, is a digital process, quick, uncomplicated and easy.
At the Stratford, Build East, site there are three semi-portable prefabricated buildings. The reception area houses the Skills Centre team, an examination/testing room and lockers for learners PPE.
The second building is a training room, complete with a suite of digital learning aids including individual learner ‘tablets’, complete with a locker configuration in which to keep them when not in use.
Finally the third building performs the dual roles of an eating and refreshments area as well as being a place where anyone interested in learning more about what opportunities there are for training on site.
Finally the buildings, although close together are adjacent to a replica building yard/site. In the shadow of what was the Olympic Stadium in 2012, now home to Premier League team West Ham United, the yard is a well laid out space allowing for practical hands on, supervised, skills development and learning.
The Centre Director at Build East is John Fenton. The whole environment is well organised, tidy and filled with a great sense of purpose and a positive energy, there is a tangible sense of this being a great place to learn.
Sam explains ‘We want to provide a welcoming, stable learning environment where individuals can receive training and develop themselves, building confidence, knowledge and skills at the same time’
Sam and Rob are both in agreement; The Skills Centres ambition is to work with the local community in which the development is located, working with the local borough and the developer or contractor in the site to deliver upskilling, training, and employment outcomes. ‘Local, sustainable jobs for local people’, this is the mantra of the team at the Skills Centre.
With today’s complex and wide range of training courses, The Skills Centre pride themselves in being a provider of multiple outcomes. From pre-employability, skills boot camps, shorts courses, upskilling/NVQ’s (level’s 2-7) and a suite of apprenticeships (level 2), the range of options is especially comprehensive. It all supports the inclusive approach that the organisation takes to providing all possible outcomes to as many local residents as possible.
The quality of the training offered is, of course, a prominent feature at all of the sites within the group. Sam explains that meeting the required expectations, outcomes, quality and standards set by stakeholder awarding organisations including NOCN, SQA and City and Guilds, is paramount.
On the teaching and learning aspects they are, of course, assessed by OFSTED; in this regard they were awarded ‘Good’ with Outstanding scores for Adult Education in November 2023.
Completing key stakeholder relations are those organisations that provide sources of funding. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA), Department for Education (DfE) and Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and others.
In order to ensure the ‘stakeholder management’ process performs to the desired standard the Skills Centre has a dedicated team of ‘quality’ individuals. This team includes a Quality Manager, responsible for overseeing all relevant delivery metrics across the entire organisations spectrum. A Qualifications Manager, supporting the relationship with the awarding organisations, and a Teaching and Learning Manager, who’s role is to support the development and CPD of tutors and other staff members.
Referring to tutors, and as mentioned at the beginning of this spotlight The Skills Centre is no stranger to doing things differently. This is most evident when Sam reveals that the tutors employed within the business are, wherever possible, recruited from within the industry.
Sam explains ‘we recruit tradesmen and then teach them to be tutors or teachers and we fund their journey to achieve their qualification. By doing this we secure the inherent experience of these individuals that come directly from site’.
Looking ahead now, it is clear The Skills Centre are definitely not short of ambition.
As Sam explains ‘we clearly want to align our offerings to match industry needs and lead the way in the delivery of, for example, Green Skills. He continues ‘the green skills agenda is another, more recent, feature of the construction sector that is going to shape much of the way we and the industry move forward in relation to training and skills. An example of this is our delivery of non-hazardous waste management, where we have now delivered over 1,000 qualifications’.
With other areas of skills shortage, notably, Dry Lining, Interior Systems, as notified by CITB, The Skills Centre will begin delivering a level 2 apprenticeship in this respect starting early in 2025.
Along with all of this activity and with a clear sense of focus and drive to align their offer with industry requirements, the team at The Skills Centre have, this month, secured the ability to, uniquely, deliver plant training at their site in Earls Court. This represents a first in the industry.
This outcome will provide a fully featured plant training facility underpinned by the relevant CPCS qualification on a live construction site. In collaboration with JCB, the prospect of having the first fully fledged plant training facility in London is one that proves exciting for Sam and the team. ‘This is a unique operation at Earls Court’, explains Sam ‘it’s the only plant training facility in London and promises to be a very popular and very well subscribed course, we will be busy!’
It is clear that The Skills Centre are driven, focused and an intrinsic part of the construction sectors ‘skills and qualifications engine room’.
2025 promised to be a very interesting year for them.
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