Stakeholder Communication - Gen2

Stakeholder Communication 10 November 2015 Gen2 rises to the Skills Challenge and invests to support the future of Cumbrian Energy, Engineering & Advanced Manufacturing employers with Announcement of Multi-Million Pound project to construct flagship training centre at Workington We are extremely proud to announce a major investment in West Cumbria to establish a state-ofthe-art facility that will allow substantial expansion of Gen2’s training and educational services for the energy, engineering and advanced manufacturing business sectors in Cumbria and beyond. The multi-million pound investment, will establish a new world-class facility, located adjacent to Gen2’s current operations at the Energus building and the recently opened Energy Coast UTC, on the Lillyhall Business Park in Workington. The centre will provide huge job opportunities for more young people through apprenticeships, traineeships and ground-breaking higher education programmes. It will also allow Gen2 to provide an extended range of commercial training courses tailored to meet the skills needs of employers in Cumbria, including those in advanced manufacturing, nuclear new build as well as the service and business sectors. This is a major investment in West Cumbria, but one that benefits the entire Gen2 organisation and it is our determined objective to also build on our position in both the North and South of the county. The new facility will allow us to develop new products and develop our business in ways which allow us to bring new opportunities and investment potential in our other Cumbrian sites. The 7,000 sq metre facility will include 3,000 sq metres of cutting-edge engineering training workshops equipped with the latest specialist equipment and machinery, along with classrooms to accommodate an additional 500 learners. These facilities will create new opportunities for Gen2’s

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existing clients throughout Cumbria and allow the not-for-profit organisation to fulfil ambitions to substantially expand the range of services on offer to new customers. Planning for the project is at the advanced stage and subject to all necessary approvals, Gen2 aims to be fully operational in the new facility from 2016/17. Speaking for Gen2, Mike Smith OBE, Chief Executive Officer explains “This project has been a long time in the planning, and will eventually see the creation of the largest engineering and advanced manufacturing training facility in the North West, if not the UK. As our existing facilities on the Lillyhall Business Park have been at full capacity for some time, we’ve had to make some short-term arrangements for additional accommodation due to the increase in demand from employers and learner growth, which this year saw the opening of our Skills Centre on the Salterbeck Estate in Workington. The new facility will be large enough to accommodate all of our existing provision at both Lillyhall and Salterbeck, and become the company’s new Head Office. It will also give us room to further expand our capacity and capability well into the future, as the demands for skilled engineers and technicians in support of the county’s large scale industrial projects, such as the new reactors to be built by NuGen at Moorside, start to take place. As such this should not only be seen as a vote of confidence in Gen2’s future, but the economic future of West Cumbria and the county as a whole.” Artist impressions of the new Gen2 facility: