St Helens College opens new £500k Green Energy Skills Centre

The college has officially launched the centre, which specialises in upskilling industry professionals and training future heating engineers in green home energy technologies such as air source heat pumps.

Having invested more than £500,000, including an investment boost from the Department for Education as part of the Strategic Development Fund (SDF), the new Centre provides a comprehensive range of plumbing and heating courses, from level 2 and 3 technical qualifications and T Levels to apprenticeships and adult training courses.

The Green Energy Skills Centre has been launched (Image: Fotopia Photography)

The focal point of the new Centre is the Renewable Training Home, sponsored by employer partner, Ideal Heating.

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The replica home features a range of state-of-the-art energy-saving and low-carbon appliances, materials and building methods including Ideal Heating’s Logic Air heat pump and hot water cylinder.

The Green Energy Skills Centre being opened by (l to r) Lewis Litherland, Renewable Energy lecturer, Phil Walsh, head of construction, Chris Lee, deputy head of construction and Simon Pierce, College CEO and principal (Image: Fotopia Photography)

St Helens College’s head of construction, Phil Walsh said: “We aim to be the number one training centre for heating engineers in the UK, delivering quality skills training to the industry's new and existing workforce to meet emerging green jobs and skills priorities.”

He added: “Developing this centre into what it is today has been a fantastic, collaborative achievement, which has required intensive planning and vision, driven forward by the construction department, with support and valued contribution from employers including Ideal Heating, Polypipe, Intatec, Primary Pro, Kingspan, DiscreteHeat and Heat Engineer Software Ltd.”

The new centre has been launched (Image: Fotopia Photography)

The College’s students and apprentices, who are studying other construction trades such as joinery and painting and decorating, also had the opportunity to get involved in developing the Centre, demonstrating the skills they have learnt from building structures to applying paint finishes and installing the appliances.

The new Centre adds to the College’s range of green technology provision including Electric Vehicle (EV) training at the STEM Centre Campus with plans to expand into solar thermal and photovoltaic systems.