We take training our people very seriously, with 26 modern training centres across the UK. This includes an investment of £23 million in four new state-of-the-art workforce development centres (WDCs) in Stirlingshire, Kent, Bristol and Walsall. These allow us to train up to 100 of our frontline engineering and maintenance people at once.
Westwood development centre
Westwood, in Coventry, opened in 2005 – we designed it specifically to deliver our programme of professional skills development. It’s also part of our graduate training programme and a venue for leadership conferences. It’s a purpose-built, residential building that serves as a centre of excellence for our leadership and management skills. As an environment that’s separated from everyday workplace pressures, it helps to promote creativity and strategic planning among our management teams.
We created our training programmes in partnership with Warwick Business School, one of the UK’s top ten business schools, and the Warwick manufacturing group: these are both part of the University of Warwick.
Walsall workforce development centre
Walsall is the largest of our four WDCs so far. Built on one of our old maintenance depot sites, we’ve transformed it into a modern, comprehensively-equipped training facility. This includes extensive replicas for practical training in a controlled environment, including 60 metres of internal track layout with signalling and 150 metres of outdoor track.