Menu

Introduction

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership provides a strategic lead on the county’s economic growth. Cumbria LEP work collaboratively and in partnership with industry and public to develop the county’s new Local Industrial Strategy, which will highlight Cumbria’s strengths as a county.

With a pipeline of projects in the works, Cumbria LEP aim to create and safeguard thousands of jobs and ensure local people develop the skills necessary for these future projects. The renewable energy and low carbon sector will see a significant increase of opportunities over the next decade. Cumbria LEP is well-positioned for these projects, with two offshore wind farms currently in the region, state of the art training facilities and valuable skills bootcamps meeting employer skills needs and developing a highly skilled local workforce.

 

Skills Bootcamps

You can get involved in Cumbria LEP’s Skills Bootcamps in one or all of the following ways:

  • Support your employees to upskill or retrain through Skills Bootcamps to help them progress in your organisation or recruit new employees who have completed Skills Bootcamps.
  • Find Skills Bootcamps relevant to your sector that are currently being delivered. You can recruit from these or co-design bespoke Skills Bootcamps with training providers in order to fill your skills shortages.

 

Offshore wind in Cumbria

There is currently over 1.8GW of clean energy generation capacity developed over the last 15 years around the Cumbrian coast focused around the Barrow and Morecambe Bay area and the Solway Firth. Barrow and Workington have established O&M hubs to support these developments, which directly employ over 400 people.

Furness College plays a key role in skills development for the offshore energy sector in Cumbria, with Ørsted and RWE also playing a key role in supporting the offshore industry in Cumbria. They provide training and skills development on various apprenticeships schemes.

 

Ørsted

In partnership with Furness College, Ørsted offer offshore wind turbine technician apprenticeships in Barrow-in-Furness on the West coast.

Each Wind Turbine Technician Apprentice will learn how to operate and maintain offshore wind turbines. The three-year apprenticeships will comprise of one year of classroom-based learning, followed by two years working on site with Ørsted.

The apprentices study to earn a Maintenance & Operations Engineering Technician (MOET) qualification, which incorporates a BTEC Level 3 in Engineering. The MOET qualification gives each apprentice core knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for industry and, if they successfully complete the programme, will become full-time employees at Ørsted.

As part of their Community Benefit scheme, Ørsted donate £100,000 annually as part of their Walney Extension Skills Fund. The purpose of the fund is to provide educational and learning opportunities for individuals across Cumbria to help improve their skills and employment opportunities. This ensures individuals within the region can help close the gap on the technical and engineering skills shortage and can maximise the opportunities provided locally.

 

Furness College Advanced Manufacturing Centre

The state-of-the-art training facility is helping to meet the growing demand locally for highly-skilled workers by enabling students to develop skills on real-life projects for companies ranging from major employers to SMEs.

 

University of Cumbria new Campus

The proposed campus will be situated at the end of Buccleuch Dock Road and is expected to have 1,400 students within a decade. The campus will deliver programmes including advanced manufacturing, supply chain and logistics and will be home to the University’s new Institute of Engineering, Computing and Manufacturing.

The campus is key to providing the local community and those further afield with the opportunity to learn valuable new skills relevant and transferrable to the offshore energy sector and securing a highly skilled local supply chain and local workforce.