Leading plant hire company P. Flannery Plant Hire (Oval) Ltd shows its intention to make Birmingham its skills hub, as it submits planning application for a state-of-the-art plant operative training facility.
Located just outside of the city, off the M42 Junction 9, the five-acre site will be home to a large number of trainees and will be fully equipped to train up the next generation of construction plant operatives. Once qualified they will join the strong team of existing Flannery operators already delivering on some of the biggest infrastructure projects across the UK.
The new facility will qualify trainees as Plant Operators on a range of equipment, earning them nationally recognised Construction Plant Certification Scheme (CPCS) and CITB National Construction College certificates. Training will be focused on providing a range of skills including how to operate equipment safely and productively, working to levels with the aid of laser equipment and how to carry out routine servicing procedures. Most importantly trainees will leave ready to work in an industry that the CITB estimates needs to recruit and train 158,000 workers between 2018 and 2022– 31,600 annually – simply to keep up with the current levels of demand.
Flannery boasts a roster of some of the biggest projects and contractors in the UK and the firm is investing in the next generation to ensure it is ready to supply the growing demand in highly skilled plant operatives.
Patrick Flannery, CEO of Flannery Plant Hire said: “There is so much going on in Birmingham at the moment. With HS2 ramping up, many of our clients being based there, and the swathe of live construction sites across the City, it makes sense to make it our training home. We are ambitious for growth, and we believe that we can find the next generation of hardworking talent in a city that has the youngest demographic in Western Europe and is well connected to the surrounding regions. All being well, we should see this make a real positive impact for a lasting legacy for the Midlands – training the next generation of plant operatives, giving people new skills, and improving the lives of them and their families”.
The industry-leading, family-owned and run plant hire firm is proud to be a Living Wage accredited employer and is currently recruiting for six trainee construction plant operators to start in February 2019. Furthermore, it has committed to take on thirty apprentices each year in conjunction with the new Trailblazer Apprentice Scheme for construction plant operators (an employer-led working group that is co-chaired by Flannery).
To support the opportunities that are coming as a result of HS2 and other high value projects (the national Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline shows £182.2 billion worth of projects anticipated to start between 2018 and 2021), they are expecting to take on more and more each year.
Flannery currently has a 3,000 strong fleet of plant and equipment spread across six depots nationwide; those joining their team could find themselves learning on anything from a small one-tonne excavators through to nighty-tonne articulated dumpers by the time they have completed their training. With Flannery’s wide breadth of plant in operation across the UK’s construction industry, trainees can expect to learn to operate telehandlers, dump trucks, forward tipping dumpers, and dozers as part of their exciting new career.
