Hull College Teaching Siemens Workers about Composites

Hull College Group (HCG) has launched the Hull College Group Composites Training Centre to help Siemens’ wind turbine blade factory workforce master manufacturing skills using composite materials. 

Around GBP 500,000 has been invested to convert a former construction skills facility on Hull’s Preston Road estate into one of only two centres in the UK which specialise in composite manufacture.

Facilities include a “blade school” which replicates, in miniature, the processes within the new Siemens blade factory. All 800 operational staff from the blade factory will undergo their first stage training there over the next 14 months.

Guests were given demonstrations of composite manufacture and briefings by two Hull College trainers, who have themselves undergone extensive training in Aalborg, Denmark, where Siemens has an existing blade factory. They also heard from some of the first group of Siemens staff in Hull who have just completed their initial composites manufacturing training.

“We’re delighted to launch this facility and showcase the transformation we have seen here as a result of the investment we have made in remodelling and equipping the centre since our training partnership with Siemens was announced last September,” Hull College Principal Graham Towse said.

“The training we are providing for Siemens is unique to the UK and will play a vital part in delivering the skills to establish a world-class wind power manufacturing operation in Hull.”

The training centre is just two miles from the Siemens factory site at Alexandra Dock where turbine blades 75m in length and weighing 30 tonnes will be manufactured using a composite of balsa wood, glass fibre and resin.

“Our training partnership with Hull College Group is a very clear demonstration of our commitment to support local suppliers, wherever possible,’‘ Carolyn Woolway, Siemens’ Head of Human Resources for the Hull project, said.

”It means our Hull factory staff, who are overwhelmingly local, will undergo their initial training locally, delivered by local trainers and a local training organisation. We’re also pleased that our GBP 1m contract with Hull College Group for the first stage training of our blade factory workforce is acting as a catalyst for further investment in facilities that will build local skills and deliver additional benefits for the local economy.”