The Skills Capital Programme was designed by the LEP’s Employment and Skills Board to ensure that further education and training facilities are built or enhanced to deliver training to meet the needs of employers within Greater Lincolnshire’s employers.

The programme received an additional £7.59m allocation from the Getting Building Fund announced during the pandemic to accelerate recovery.

Here we round up progress across some of these important developments in four short tasters.

Boston College – Engineering, Manufacturing and Agri-Tech

Completed in October 2019 and opened by the previous Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi MP, this is one of our flagship capital skills projects, supporting key strategic sectors and designed as an industry-driven training facility to stimulate growth and productivity across engineering, manufacturing, and agri-tech.

Courses offered include a variety of engineering courses from automotive, motorsport, electrical and plumbing; CNC machining, including rapid prototyping, CAD, composite technology, laser cutting and agri-food maintenance; and electronics offering programmable logic control, robotics, artificial intelligence, and manufacturing. 

Despite Covid hitting as this was launched, 110 new apprenticeships have still been achieved to date, and over a thousand learners supported. 

This facility was created in response to industry demand, to stimulate and support innovation for businesses through the technology hub, improve the skills and talent of the current and future workforce and to support business growth through access to resources and advice. 

Lincoln College - Digital and Professional Skills Centre

Refurbishment of the Gibney Building recently completed with a strong focus on the Manufacturing, Engineering, Health and Care and Digital Sectors.

Lincoln College has also set up 'The Lincoln Business Centre' and is busy approaching other potential partners to fulfil the business start-up activities across their business incubation suite. This state-of-the-art area provides fully equipped classrooms providing learners with access to industry relevant equipment, interfacing design and manufacturing digital technology and supports key advances in engineering and manufacturing.

Meanwhile the adjacent care college offers a realistic care environment setting including an emergency care simulation classroom, sensory rooms, bathing facilities as well as realistic manikins to practice clinical and non-clinical techniques in a safe situation.

Both the EMAT Boston, and Gibney Building Lincoln, were shortlisted for Property & Construction Awards 2022 and we were delighted to hear last week that EMAT are the incredibly proud winners. Congratulations!

Stamford College - Digital Skills Centre

This new centre underpins the LEP’s sector priorities, not least because of increasing automation and the endemic use of digital data within all sectors of business and further exacerbated due to the pandemic. The refurbishment and upgrade of the college’s computer learning facilities is enhancing the delivery of digital skills training and education. It also supports the further development of cyber security, mobile technologies, green IT and cloud computing, all of which have been identified by UKCES as drivers for high-level skills needs within the digital sector.

This project set out to refurbish the old computer workshops on the top of the main block to provide additional learning space in an open, innovative, and inspiring learning environment modelled on real world industry practice and flexible working patterns.

Targeting the needs of local and regional employers as well as learners in the local area, it offers courses that respond quickly to the changing digital environment and of those required by employers. The Centre offers apprenticeships, digital media, cyber security and Microsoft courses.

North Lindsey College - Technical Business Skills and Innovation Hub (DN College Group, Scunthorpe)

This project utilises former Civic Centre in Scunthorpe, and forms part of North Lincolnshire Council Offices to provide a university campus offer in Scunthorpe which now includes a library, high quality teaching rooms, informal social learning spaces and state of the art Industry 4.0 simulation facilities.

TBSIH offers both full and part time courses and degrees ranging from Level 4 to 6 across; health life and social sciences; business, education and professional development; and engineering and technology.

Working in partnership with regional universities; the Universities of Lincoln, Hull, Huddersfield and Sheffield Hallam University, this important development promotes widening participation and meeting employer and student needs. The College now has around 1,200 students participating in full and part time programmes, the majority of whom live or work within a 6-mile radius of Scunthorpe.

This new resource is now targeting businesses to enable them to access innovation support combined with new business start-up space and their employer engagement programme is soon to be rolled out.