Leading colleges from across the Tees Valley have signed up to help deliver the Teesworks Skills Academy to ensure local people have the right skills to fill the jobs being created on site.

The new academy, announced by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen earlier this year, will help local people take advantage of job opportunities at Teesworks by training them to gain the skills they need and linking them with employers who are recruiting across the 4,500 acre site.

The Teesworks Skills Academy will be led by the Education Training Collective (Etc), which includes Stockton Riverside and Redcar and Cleveland Colleges. These will be joined by Darlington, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool FE Colleges and Teesside University and the Learning Curve Group to help deliver the academy.

The academy will also work with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council who will use their community-based training and employment hubs to help train local people and enable them to access jobs.

Mayor Houchen said: “The redevelopment of the Teesworks site is central to my plan for jobs, but there is no point in securing investment and creating these jobs if people in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool don’t have the best opportunity possible to access them.

“The new Teesworks Skills Academy will help them do just that by giving local people the skills they need so they are perfectly placed to take advantage of the jobs we are creating.

“Jobs are already being created on site, in just the last 5 months we’ve seen 557 good-quality well paid jobs created on site through my 12-month plan to demolish to deliver. These are real jobs putting more money in the pockets of local workers so they can look after themselves and their families, and over the coming weeks, months and years ahead thousands of jobs are going to be on their way. That’s why it is essential that we train local people and give them the skills they need so they are ready and raring to go.

“I am pleased colleges from across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, along with our university and the private sector have come together to help make the Teesworks Skills Academy a reality. I would encourage anyone looking for a job to get in touch and go on the website to find out more.”

In July, Mayor Houchen outlined a 12-month demolition and land remediation plan, with a host of contracts that are supporting local businesses and preparing the site for redevelopment.

Once redeveloped, tens of thousands of high-quality jobs for local people, centred around advanced manufacturing, innovation and clean energy, will be created at Teesworks across 25 years.

Gary Potts, Group Vice-Principal: Business, Innovation and Partnerships at the Etc. said of the academy, “The Tees Valley is served by a number of high-quality education and training providers; organisations which complement each other with their own individualised sector specific strengths.

“The Teesworks Skills Academy provides a great opportunity for our organisations to collaborate; forming an innovative partnership arrangement which will deliver more for our region as a whole, than could be achieved working separately.

“By working together, we are ensuring that Tees Valley residents will be able to benefit from sector-specific training which will equip them with the skills they will need to access jobs in the UK’s largest industrial development – right on their doorstep.”

Professor Jane Turner OBE DL, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise and Business Engagement) at Teesside University, said: “As a University, we play a key role in addressing the skills needs of the region, ensuring that employers have the resources necessary to build a talented workforce, whilst ensuring that their employees have the necessary skills, knowledge and expertise to succeed and make an impact in their chosen field.

“This collaboration brings together our key partners in the education and training field, to ensure highly skilled and productive individuals who collectively drive economic growth and regional prosperity.”

Brenda McLeish, CEO of Learning Curve Group, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to collaborate with the other high-quality learning institutions across the region on the new Teesworks Skills Academy. Bringing local providers together to enhance the skills of local people and help them into local jobs is key to developing a stable economy – something the region will need as we come out the other side of the pandemic. The Teesworks initiative was set to be a brilliant addition to the region and this is the case even more now as we plan our recovery.”

Anyone who is interested in learning new skills or enhancing existing ones, or would like to know more about job opportunities on the Teesworks site should visit www.teesworksskillsacademy.co.uk