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UNOCO Nottingham Training Centre Opens to Full Capacity

The new 18,000 square feet training centre opened in Nottingham in March 2007, and after 4 days of taster sessions was full to its initial capacity with over 70 candidates enrolling on the Fastrack Apprenticeship programme in Construction and Civil Engineering.

This 'programme-led' style of apprenticeship focuses on developing a wide range of skills in the candidates before they are placed with employers to be assessed for their Level 2 NVQ’s (National Vocational Qualifications) and to complete their apprenticeship programmes. This style of apprenticeship programme benefits the learners by developing a comprehensive range of basic trade skills, employability skills, literacy and numeracy skills before they are placed with the employer, so that they are more immediately useful and have a better chance of integrating into the working environment. They are also not being constantly taken of the job for training which can disrupt employers’ work scheduling. Untrained candidates and disruption from training have been shown by recent research to be the main reasons why employers, and in particular SME’s (Small to Medium Enterprises) are unlikely to engage in apprenticeship programmes.

The programme was welcomed by the Nottinghamshire Connexions team who have work closely with UNOCO to recruit suitable candidates for the programme.

We are in the process of developing the second stage of facilities at the centre 12 months ahead of schedule. This will double the capacity for construction training and allow for a further intake of Apprenticeship candidates in May and July 2008. Further apprenticeship programmes are being offered in Business Administration starting in June 2008, and Warehousing and Logistics in September 2008.

UNOCO Group Chairman Ted Stanley said “We are delighted with the immediate success of the new UNOCO Nottingham Training Centre and would like to thank Connexions Nottinghamshire and everyone else involved for their support. Drawing on our experiences of similar programmes in London, we have tried to combine the needs of employers and the aspirations of young people to design a programme that in both style of delivery and outcome matches both clients’ and learners’ needs. The capacity enrolments and interest expressed by local employers would indicate that we may have got it right.”

For further information visit http://trainingcentres.org.uk or contact our training support team on 0871 312 0024.

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