The announcement that almost £11million of funding will drive forward a significant expansion in training places and apprentices in key sectors of Lancashire’s economy is more good news for the county.
Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is behind this latest initiative which will support nine projects worth more than £34m across the county.
The LEP says that its aim is to support a network of modern, high quality educational and training facilities that will look to improve skills levels.
Among many projects, the money will help back skill development initiatives at BAE Systems impressive new training centre, which is emerging at its Samlesbury site on the outskirts of Preston.
The LEP says that in aerospace and advanced manufacturing as many as 21,800 extra skilled tradespeople and qualified professionals and managers will be needed by 2022.
Friargate Court, our new £18m development in Preston, will be the first bespoke accommodation aimed at this next generation when it opens its doors later this year.
Our aim is to provide modern, affordable accommodation for young workers as they set off on their path to career success.
We also want to help keep more young people in the area once their studies are completed, halting an exodus of talent that threatens to prevent the county’s economic growth and to provide homes for workers moving into the area.
We believe the accommodation we are creating is ideal for apprentices and young workers at the new Lancashire Enterprise Zone based at BAE System’s two sites in Samlesbury and Warton.
That new zone will form a centre of excellence for high technology manufacturing, generating wealth-creating benefits for the whole county.
It aim is to create 6,000 highly skilled jobs, plus a further 5,000 to 7,000 in the local supply chain. Local advanced manufacturing and aerospace firms such as BAE Systems also have expanding apprenticeship programmes aimed at attracting talent to the sector.
