New centre in Warwickshire will train next generation for construction industry

A brand new training centre designed to supply the next generation of skilled recruits for the construction industry will open in Warwickshire later this year. 

The Hercules Construction Academy will start taking shape on a 3.2 acre site off Avenue Road in Nuneaton next month with a view to taking its first students in the autumn. 

With the construction industry facing significant skills shortages, the £10million investment in the centre is a huge boost for both the sector as a whole and the local economy around Nuneaton.   

Hercules is a major supplier of skilled labour to Tier One construction companies including Balfour Beatty and HS2. Based in South Cerney, in the Cotswolds, they are opening a second home in Nuneaton to exploit the town’s excellent transport links and proximity to major projects. 

A big part of that Nuneaton base will be an academy offering specialist apprenticeship training. Entrants will be welcome from Warwickshire and the West Midlands but also further afield to tackle skills shortages which afflict the sector nationally. 

Paul Blakeman, Head of Training and Development at Hercules, said: “The Academy will take students on the whole journey into work. We will train them up and then give them access to jobs so they will filter into work and help address the huge skills gaps that currently affect the industry. It’s a win-win for the young people and employers on both a local and national level.

“We have acquired a really good site in Nuneaton. It is a great location with enough space to enable us to train our own workforce and help create the next generation of specialists in civil engineering, utilities, plant and infrastructure. The site will be extensively refurbished inside and out this summer with classrooms and outdoor training facilities which will include a plant training area and highways and motorway mock-ups, rail and other dedicated construction disciplines focused on where the skills shortages sit.

“The great thing about the Academy is that it will deliver the whole training to employment journey. We will train young people with today’s skills and then, when they have been upskilled, they can talk to our recruitment team who will be based at the academy. It will prepare students for the digital era of construction and then get them straight to work.”

Hercules are working with the team at Warwickshire Skills Hub to attract the first intake of students later this year. This entails visiting schools and colleges to get messages out to potential graduates…and their parents. 

“Many young people don’t know much about construction and their parents’ perception is often very different to the reality,” said Paul. “Many people think it’s just about digging holes in a field in the pouring rain, but the truth is there are so many dimensions to the industry and so many opportunities – in maths, medicine, accountancy, design, law to name just a few.   

“We look forward to really tapping into the potential of young people in Warwickshire and giving them the opportunity to make the most of that potential. We will also be employing locally and are particularly keen to tap into the range of skills offered by ex-armed forces personnel.”

Vicki Haslam, Senior Business Skills Advisor at Warwickshire Skills Hub, said: “We are excited to support Hercules in establishing themselves in Warwickshire as a specialist training provider. This is an excellent opportunity for Hercules as a new provider to enhance the skills landscape and support the development of a pipeline of skills into the rail construction industry.”

For more information please email Academy@hercules-construction.co.uk.