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Decarbonisation opportunities in the North West cluster

The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and the Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA) hosted a joint industry event on the 9th of October in Warrington, featuring representative from Asset Owners, Contractors and Training Providers. The event featured guest speakers from Net Zero North West as well as Progressive Energy; with the heart of the event being skills discussions based around the challenges and opportunities of decarbonisation projects in the North West cluster.

The Labour government recently announced a £21.7 billion funding package for decarbonisation of key UK energy clusters, including HyNet in the north west. HyNet is a project that will bring together the technology to produce, transport and store low-carbon hydrogen across the North West and North Wales. There will also be the infrastructure to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide emissions from industry. Hydrogen will be manufactured in the North West at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex by EET Hydrogen. The low-carbon hydrogen production plant will supply local industry with locally produced hydrogen. More information about HyNet can be found online at HyNet North West.

The event also looked at challenges that will impact skills and employment. Jane Gaston, CEO of Net Zero North West, a guest speaker at the event, explains: “The North West is at a key pivot point in its ambitions to decarbonise industry. The ability to mobilise, grow and sustain a skilled workforce will be essential to this ambition and it’s for this reason that tackling the skills challenge has been identified as one of the top priorities in the Net Zero North West Manifesto.”

The discussion focused on the challenge of bringing young people and new talent into the industry, as well as upskilling and skill transferability from other industries where potentially new standards in training could produce a benchmark across the whole construction sector. ECITB, a key player in the training, is currently developing, with employers a training provision for the skills that will be needed to deliver this project. Alan Neale of ECITB, explains: “A key test of the success of this event will be the action and outcomes that result from it. I look forward to reviewing and collating the various discussion points from each round table, to identify tangible next steps we can look to take forwards with industry in the region.”

To accelerate workforce training the attendees discussed the opportunity to utilise already-existing training facilities. Incentives and workforce pay was also a topic of discussion in attracting talent. Oli Slack, ECIA Employment Relations Manager – North West explains: “Providing fair pay for a skilled workforce and stable industrial relations could be delivered via the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI) which has already been adopted at the Stanlow refinery and would ensure a suitable framework for this project”.

Further networking around the training provider stands allowed ECITB-approved training providers to showcase their wares to the industry and create new inroads with both contractors and clients. The formation of many relationships and collaboration was seen as a key outcome of the event. There will be a tremendous amount of opportunities for regional employers and only by working together can the companies deliver and reap benefits from this highly anticipated project.

Summarising the event Jane Gaston adds: “It was fantastic to see the engagement in the room today and hear the views of a range of organisations from across the supply chain on the work that has started to move the region forward on this critical area”.

Duncan Birtwistle, HyNet Alliance Manager, concludes: “It was a great opportunity to provide an update on HyNet and road-test our ideas around skills with experienced industry figures. We received lots of valuable feedback whilst making new connections.”