Engineering consortium scoops UK-wide training award

At the Guildhall in London, scene of the Lord Mayor’s Banquet and many other glittering occasions, three north firms and the local enterprise company were honoured as the only Scottish winners of a National Training Award to be singled out for a UK Special Award.

The firms – Donald Gow and Son, JGC Engineering and Technical Services, Subsea 7 and Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise Ltd – have tasted recent success as Modern Apprenticeship Award winners, Scottish National Training Award winners, and now, have had their robust version of partnership working endorsed at the UK level by UK Skills, the government-sponsored organisation working to promote and celebrate the benefits of skills development.

Anne Sutherland, Head of Skills Development at CASE said, "The Awards have been great and a real boost to everyone involved, but the fundamental benefit has been to our businesses and organisations, in training skilled workers, learning from each other, and doing our bit for the far north community". "Our businesses face the challenges of businesses all over, but we have additional challenges to overcome, such as small numbers of staff for specific types of training. This is where the partnership hit on the common sense approach of working together to increase the options for their Modern Apprentices."

According to Jock Campbell of JGC at Halkirk, "No, its not rocket science, but we seem to be one of the very few partnerships working together – despite our rivalries – to find a solution that works for us all."

The lead members of the Partnership, Donald Gow, Jock Campbell, Willie Watt are keen to encourage businesses in the Far North to think about partnership working .

Donald Gow and Willie Watt summed up their reactions, " Folk in the Far North know they do a good job and our businesses reap the benefits of well-trained and motivated people in the workforce. But to have this significant endorsement at UK level, of our working partnership has been tremendous".

In 1997, The Far North had another significant win at UK level with a partnership of Caithness Glass and Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise again winning a UK Special Award.