Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, welcomed the Minister for Employment, Damien Hinds, to its Pipe Fabrication Facility in Bromborough yesterday. The Minister’s visit, to announce the latest labour market statistics, comes at a time when the company has significantly increased its mechanical and electrical workforce across the North West of England.
Over the last six months the workforce at the company’s Bromborough North West delivery unit has increased by 300 people, with the company now employing close to 900 mechanical and electrical operatives to support an increasing demand for Balfour Beatty’s expertise.
Minister for Employment, Damian Hinds, said: “I was delighted to visit The Wirral, and meet some of the hard-working people who are helping drive our economy forward. A stronger Britain needs an even stronger workforce, and I’m encouraged by the actions of employers like Balfour Beatty that are investing in their local workforce, particularly our young people.”
Les Higham, Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick Delivery Unit Director, said: “We now employ close to 900 people at our Bromborough facility and are providing crucial job security for our largely local workforce.
“We’re really proud of our investment in training and developing our people and our involvement in some of the most exciting projects across the North West of England. Through large scale recruitment and up skilling our existing workers, we’re preparing ourselves to deliver the Country’s vital infrastructure needs.”
The Minister had the opportunity to tour the Balfour Beatty pipe fabrication facility and witness the manufacturing of pipe systems which the company provides across the power, petrochemical, nuclear, oil and gas, infrastructure, defence and pharmaceutical sectors. He also had the opportunity to meet with over 60 trainees on Balfour Beatty’s apprenticeship scheme, including Thomas Hyland, a Project Engineer, who began his apprenticeship in 2009.
Speaking about his apprenticeship, Thomas said: “In the first two years I was able to complete qualifications in computer aided design and an ONC and HNC in electrical engineering. I worked hard and was rewarded with opportunities to travel and learn internationally and get involved in a number of high profile projects. Balfour Beatty is now supporting me in obtaining my BEng (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and project management qualifications. I hope to learn from our current Managing Director, Simon Lafferty, who also started his career as an apprentice.”
The Minister also learnt about the apprentice training schemes from training providers JTL and the Maritime Engineering College and Balfour Beatty’s commitment to The 5% Club, a UK employer-led initiative focused on creating momentum behind the recruitment of apprentices and graduates into the workforce.
ENDS
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Gill Stephens
Balfour Beatty
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Notes to editors:
- Balfour Beatty ‘s Pipe Fabrication Facility is showcased in the following Balfour Beatty “Expert Video”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYydQ2USUd8&feature=youtu.be
- Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 34,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.
- Our main geographies are the UK, US, Middle East and South East Asia. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the world’s biggest shopping mall in Dubai, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
- Balfour Beatty’s mechanical and electrical engineering business, Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick, is one of the largest organisations of its type in the UK, offering a range of mechanical and electrical engineering capabilities to a wide range of customers in the public and private sectors, including the nuclear, power, infrastructure, process and defence, transport, healthcare, education, residential and commercial markets. The business has a circa £300 million revenue business and a directly employed workforce of 2,200. Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick’s current portfolio includes work on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers project, Urenco’s Tails Management Facility project, Crossrail’s Woolwich and Whitechapel stations, the Gatwick Airport Framework and three major projects within the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency’s Sellafield site. The company also has preferred bidder status for the Hinkley Point C Nuclear power station main electrical package.
