One of the region’s fastest growing training providers has gone into partnership with regeneration specialist RE:GEN to train people in a variety of industry sector specialisms and create the right environment for a net zero industry.
RE:geon Training, formerly Geon Training Solutions based in Gateshead’s Team Valley has a growing seven figure national portfolio, including contracts with local colleges and national providers. It specialises in fully funded, bespoke training programmes based around its sectors and continuously works with partners and clients to offer its learners local employment opportunities, as well as CV coaching and careers advice.
Now, the new business RE:geon Training has been merged into the RE:GEN Group to give local people a better start on the career ladder and a real commitment to improving the lives of the communities they serve. RE:geon pride themselves on offering first-rate training solutions and successfully placing young people into work. Most notably through their BUILD UP Construction Programme.
The BUILD UP Construction Traineeship is a fully funded scheme, dedicated to empowering young, ambitious individuals with the skills required to help them thrive in the UK Construction sector helping to combat skills shortages, fill employer staffing gaps and addressing record levels of unemployment all in one.
The RE:GEN Group has already made a splash through their commitment to growing the future workforce in Construction. Their passion is to invest heavily in the development of individuals to enable the next generation of Construction leaders to flourish. Having already engaged heavily with RE: Geon Training through the BUILD UP programme, the two enterprises set about developing a pilot initiative to deliver on the specific skills required for Retrofit in Construction.
Following its first pilot, the programme saw a 67% progression rate with six of its nine trainees receiving full time apprenticeship offers at RE:GEN Group upon completion of the course. This identified a strong proof of concept in the partnership and with an almost perfect alignment in vision, mission, values and approach, RE: Geon and the RE: GEN Group believe that the acquisition will enhance both brand’s respective growth strategies.
MD Nadia Scott of RE: Geon Training is excited to be working closely with RE:GEN. “When I first met with the CEO of RE:GEN, Lee Francis and I saw the company’s culture and their mission and values, I knew that like myself, they put people at the forefront of their business. When we first met, we simply supported them with a pre apprenticeship training programme, but this has now blossomed into a full merger which will give young people more opportunities than ever before thanks to the way we have rewritten the funding rule book.”
Indeed, rather than relying on traditional funding streams, they made the decision to open the BUILD UP traineeship programme to all, covering the cost themselves for those who weren’t originally eligible for the funding. With over 50 hours’ worth of planning, they rewrote the rulebook to provide a new, and truly unique kind of programme for young, unemployed individuals keen to start a new career in Construction. As a result, they are the only company in the North East to offer traineeships of this kind. The model has since been shared with the NELEP, local authorities and colleges within the region.
Through the partnership with RE:GEN, RE:geon Training are now delivering green skills around the areas of Retrofit in Construction throughout the North East, helping local SMEs move closer to their Net Zero targets. As well as their existing Skill Centre on Wearside, Nadia’s aim within the next 12 months, with the support of the Group is to launch new Skill Centres in the Tees Valley and Durham areas to expand their learner reach across the North East.
“The North East has a good strong footprint in the decarbonisation of social housing and RE:GEN are leaders in their field. We are using their knowledge to combine with ours to build for not only the future of our workforce but also the planet. Becoming part of the Group will enable us to really move mountains in ways that simply would not have been possible before.” said Nadia.
Lee Francis, CEO at RE:GEN said,” From the office to on-site, the demand for skilled professionals in the Construction sector is at an all-time high. When we met with Nadia and her team back in June last year to find out how she could support us in growing the next generation of leaders within Construction, it became apparent how aligned are our values and mission were. It was then that we realised this was going to be more than just a collaboration project – this was a vision for the future.”