Workforce & Skills

The region has a number of world-class training facilities that specialise in technical training for the oil and gas, offshore, engineering and manufacturing sectors. They use real work environments with high-specification equipment that matches that of an industrial setting, ensuring our workforce are equipped with the skills, training and safety awareness needed.

Demand for apprenticeships in the area is high, demonstrating the appetite for practical skills and training. There are a number of training providers based in the area, including Falck Nutec, a leading health and safety training provider for the offshore sector, TTE, the UK’s largest technical training organisation in the engineering, process and offshore sectors, NETA, who provide fully accredited courses and apprenticeships in the engineering and offshore sectors, and TWI, a global leader in technology and engineering services.

Tees Valley has five first-class further education colleges geared towards providing local businesses with the skills they need. Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton Riverside Colleges all deliver employer-led technical training courses from state-of-the-art facilities across the region, with specialisms varying from chemical and process to subsea, aircraft maintenance to fabrication and welding.

Tees Valley is also home to the Northern School of Art, the leading provider of creative art and design degrees in the North. The Northern School of Art supports industry specialists by providing the highest quality of art & design teaching, ensuring students are equipped for employment and enterprise in the creative industries.

Tees Valley is unique from most other areas, as our devolution deal with Government means we are able to deliver an effective and joined-up education and skills system that works for local businesses. The Mayoral led Combined Authority proactively supports the development of a world-class system that will deliver the skills for the future and, with it, strong economic growth for the region.

Operating as a one-stop-shop, the academy links jobseekers, local employment hubs and skills providers to create a world-class workforce for the future, equipped with the expertise businesses at the Teesworks site will need to grow and succeed.

The Teesworks Skills Academy offers unique access to a complete network of employment and training providers across the Tees Valley with a broad range of specialisms relevant to the requirements of Teesworks.

It can deliver learning from entry level through to specialist industry skills creating a clear career pathway from school to retirement, with access to a broad range of funding sources to support industry with recruitment and upskilling of current staff.