Van Elle, the UK’s largest ground engineering contractor, has expanded its training and assessment centre by adding a new Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS) facility at its base in Kirkby in Ashfield.
Van Elle is now able to offer training for operating specialist plant, machinery and vehicles from its main site after gaining accreditations from specialist awarding bodies National Plant Operators Registration Scheme (NPORS) and CPCS.
Van Elle will begin delivering CPCS courses immediately with support for more than 50 endorsements including on site categories such as forward tipping dumpers, telescopic handlers, signallers and lifting operations as well as off-site categories such as concrete pumps and piling rigs.
Mark Buxton, Van Elle Training Centre Manager, said: “We’ve modified our training centre to be able to offer these new categories so that we can enhance the training and development of our own people as well as supporting our industry to continue to learn new skills.
“When the centre opened, the idea was that we could offer flexible and expert training for internal and external customers, and this latest project allows us to offer even more. It’s not just for people in the ground engineering industry, we’re training people in a wide range of skills that can be taken across construction including areas such as health and safety, civil engineering, NVQs and apprenticeships, plant training, driver training and much more.”
Van Elle’s Training and Assessment Centre, a £1m purpose-built facility, was opened in 2017 and recently reopened amid the Covid-19 pandemic with strict guidelines in place for learners to stay safe while continuing their training.
Mark Buxton said: “Due to Covid, we have introduced several steps to keep our learners safe at the centre including one way systems, reduced class sizes and we’ve increased the cleaning on site. I’m really proud of how the team have reacted to the situation and I’m pleased that we’ve not had to increase our prices despite the reduced class sizes.”
The training centre offers a wide range of training courses and services, working with educational awarding bodies such as the National Open College Network (NOCN) and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
For more information on Van Elle Training and Assessment Services, visit https://vanelletraining.co.uk/.