The Skills Centre acquires Sorted Training to boost its commercial training services

Posted Mon, 15th May 2023 Author Emily Benstock Read Time 3 minutes

The acquisition will result in even more commercial opportunities for the construction training provider

The Skills Centre, one of the UK’s most successful vocational construction training providers, has acquired Sorted Training to bolster its commercial training portfolio.

The acquisition of Sorted Training, a leading provider in Health & Safety Training and NVQ Assessments, will result in the further expansion of The Skills Centre’s portfolio nationally.

The Skills Centre already has training centres across London and Birmingham, and training programmes in Liverpool, Bristol and along the HS2 line, working for clients such as OHOB, Laing O’Rourke, HS2, Mace, Wates, Engie, Galldris, Berkley Group, Keltbray, TfL, Fortel, London Square, Morrisroe and Multiplex. It provides pre-employment, construction training and career support from entry level to NVQ level 7.

Sorted Training, based in Chesterfield, offers an innovative approach to Health & Safety training, helping employers within the industry through delivery of Health & Safety training and NVQ assessments. It complies with key tender applications and principal contractors, including creating policies and reviewing safety equipment, on-site short courses, offering CSCS / CPCS NVQ to specialist accredited Face fit testing through Qualitative or Quantitative methods.

Jon Howlin, Chief Executive of The Skills Centre, says the acquisition of Sorted Training will allow for even more opportunities for people to train for construction roles at a time when the construction industry is crying out for workers. According to the latest Construction Skills Network (CSN) report an extra 225,000 construction workers likely to be needed by 2027*.

“The Skills Centre is a reputable, secure and maturing business partner and offers a broad provision to the construction industry and learners and community focused partners. We are a UK-wide leader in construction training to the UK’s construction industry and the acquisition of Sorted Training, a company that shares our community-focused values, is further testament to our growth,” Jon said.

“The construction sector has a massive skills shortage across all parts of the industry. Thanks to this merger, we will be training even more people new to the construction industry to fill pivotal positions. Sorted Training aligns perfectly with The Skills Centre’s missions to transform lives by providing local people access to local opportunities, so the acquisition makes total sense.”

Sorted Training aligns perfectly with The Skills Centre’s missions to transform lives by providing local people access to local opportunities, so the acquisition makes total sense. Jon Howlin, CEO at The Skills Centre

Gareth Davies, founder of Sorted Training, will take the role of Commercial Director at The Skills Centre. He started working with The Skills Centre by supporting current contracts and said their ideas aligned about how to support training in the sector: “It’s a match made in heaven in my eyes. I bonded with Jon, the directors and team immediately. I loved everything about them and what they stood for - helping communities, individual progressions and client support and care.

“With the input of Sorted Training personnel, we will bring the same ethos with an additional customer service and specialist industry knowledge. Most importantly, we can transform lives together and can increase this footprint to help more people.”

He added: “We will now be operating nationally with a local provider approach with the aim of being the number one training provider in the country. We will be adding a very experienced commercial arm from Sorted Training into The Skills Centre offering a unique service to suit our client expectations, so we can help businesses have a one stop training shop allowing them to focus on winning more tenders.”

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Notes to editors:

* https://www.citb.co.uk/about-citb/construction-industry-research-reports/construction-skills-network-csn/

The Skills Centre

The Skills Centre is one of the leading deliverers of construction skills training in the UK - with a particular mission to transform lives by helping local people access local opportunities.

With training centres across London and Birmingham, and training programmes in Liverpool, Bristol and along the HS2 line, it is opening the door to the next generation of construction workers while benefiting local communities.

Working in partnership with councils and property developers, The Skills Centre is matching a site-ready workforce to local employment opportunities.