Birkenhead’s Engineering College has secured accreditation to offer recognised welding qualifications as part of its ambitious plan to double in size over the next five years. Tony McDonough reports

One of Merseyside’s leading industrial training facilities is launching a new commercial welding training centre.

In a push to meet the skills demand for Liverpool city region’s fast-growing maritime and engineering sector, Birkenhead’s Engineering College has secured accreditation to offer recognised welding qualifications.

The college, which rebranded in October 2016, currently trains 330 apprentices. It works with more than 70 clients operating across sectors including construction, nuclear, petrochemical, renewables, oil and gas, health and maritime.

College chief executive Terry Weston said the new welding training facility has been set up specifically in response to industry demand.

It also forms part of the college’s broader expansion plan to double in size in the next five years.

Located in Monks Ferry, Birkenhead, the new training facility includes eight top specification welding bays with state-of-the-art extraction systems.

Further investment has been pumped into classrooms with new IT facilities to deliver technical training and testing.

“Since re-branding in late 2016 our commercial welding team has been working tirelessly alongside The Welding Institute to set up a certified commercial welding training and testing centre,” said Mr Weston.

“Feedback from a number of companies we work in partnership with highlighted the lack of certified welding test centres in the local area.

“Collectively we saw the opportunity to tackle the training gap. However, we are not only here to undertake welder qualification testing, we are also here to train and develop welders to meet the skills shortage in an ever-growing industry.”