News that the Go-Ahead Group is to establish two new engineering academies in Manchester and London, as part of a multi-million-pound investment in skills development, has been welcomed by leading bus parts distributor, Imperial Engineering, which supplies a range of bus and coach parts to Go-Ahead depots across the country.
The new academies will support the bus group’s apprenticeship programme and also host training for existing engineers. In its announcement, Go-Ahead said that its significant investment will create a clearer pathway for emerging talent, increase the skills and knowledge of engineering teams and help to prepare the business for “an accelerated rollout of zero-emission technology.”
Go Ahead Group’s engineers currently maintain over 6,000 vehicles across the UK and Ireland, including the UK’s largest zero-emission bus fleet.
Once the academies are operational, apprentices will learn about complex mechanical and electrical systems within a classroom environment and real-life settings. This will include placements with some of Go-Ahead’s manufacturing partners, before joining operating companies within the Group as employees, to learn on the job, whilst gaining their qualification.
The apprenticeship programme will be delivered in partnership with long-serving bus industry training provider, S&B Automotive Academy, which is based in Bristol and recently hosted the annual IRTE Skills Challenge once again. As a key sponsor of this event, Imperial Engineering has also been working with S&B in support of Go Ahead Group’s academy project.
Speaking about the plans, Go-Ahead Bus CEO, Matt Carney, said:
“Engineers are absolutely crucial to our industry. Our investment will help to create a clear career pathway for anyone interested in becoming an engineer, which includes women, who are under-represented in engineering. I am very pleased to see that 20% of our first apprentices are female. This is a great start towards gender diversity.
“Our new engineering academies will also develop our existing team of engineers, upskilling them so that they are set up for success, and provide leadership training to our emerging leaders. This means that as we grow and evolve, Go Ahead Group will continue to have the best engineers in the industry, which is great for our teams and for our customers.”
Leading bus parts distributor, Imperial Engineering, has long advocated that ‘home grown’ talent provides meaningful return on investment and there are plenty of industry studies to show that Apprenticeships deliver significant payback to employers. Imperial has been a supporter of bus and coach apprenticeships for decades. The company actively supports apprentices at the grassroots level, as well as the continuing professional development of more experienced engineers, which includes hosting training sessions with Imperial Engineering’s OEM suppliers, such as Knorr-Bremse, Meritor and Wabco.
In support of its training initiatives, Imperial recently donated some brand new brake calipers and carriers for some test rigs at Go Ahead Group, as well as supplying other training materials.
John Dwight, Imperial Engineering’s Sales Director, commented:
“With technology advancing rapidly in zero emissions, there is major demand for multi-skilled engineers, so Imperial Engineering is very pleased to welcome the plans for these new engineering academies from the Go Ahead Group, which we have been proud to support as a customer for many years, both as a parts supplier and with training assistance on brake components. Increasing the number of both male and female apprentices in the bus sector is another bonus as they are the future of our industry and the right training is crucial to meet the needs of transport decarbonisation.”
