GRAHAM is pleased to announce the official opening of a new construction training hub at its Tilbury2 site at the Port of Tilbury. The Thurrock Hub has been created in partnership with the South Essex Construction Training Academy (SECTA) for the CITB Construction Skills Fund project, led by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. The official opening ceremony of the new hub was held at the Tilbury2 site on Tuesday 25th June. Representatives were in attendance from Port of Tilbury, Essex County Council, Thurrock and Tilbury Council, while GRAHAM also welcomed the Mayor of Thurrock, Terry Piccolo. Hyla Grimwade, SECTA Project Manager commented: “SECTA is pleased to be working in partnership with leading UK contractor GRAHAM. GRAHAM has kindly agreed to host the Thurrock hub for this CITB Construction Skills Fund project. The hub allows people to have first-hand experience of visiting a live construction site and will host training as part of the SECTA project. Clients using the hub have already felt the difference from a normal classroom compared to this hub as it allows them to relate their learning to a real-world experience.”  Tilbury2, situated on the north bank of the River Thames, is a nationally significant infrastructure project involving the delivery of a new multi-million pound port terminal. The site will host and facilitate training as part of SECTA, which has been developed to support 650 people from the south Essex region into the construction industry. Students at the Thurrock Hub will receive ongoing training on a live constitution site, with support from qualified construction professionals to provide an improved learning experience that brings the subject to life. The CITB Construction Skills Fund supports the development of onsite training hubs. It has been set up to help train people who are looking to make a career change into the construction industry as well as others not currently in employment. The fund’s objective is to increase the number of people trained in construction skills to create a workforce to meet the needs of the sector. Thomas Craven, GRAHAM’s Tilbury2 Contracts Manager, said: “We’re thrilled to be playing host to this new construction training hub at Tilbury2 and look forward to working with the new trainees over the duration of the project. “At GRAHAM we understand the importance of skills development in our industry and the need to provide high quality training to fill the growing demand for workers in construction and bridge the employment skills gap. “By providing hands-on teaching and exposing trainees to this huge, live port construction site, we will offer the best environment possible for them to learn the trade and gain the skills needed to make them employment and site ready at the end of their training.” Peter Ward, Commercial Director, Port of Tilbury said: “It’s great to partner with SECTA and GRAHAM on this construction academy. Training and skills development is a key part of our business and it is only fitting that as part of the construction of our new port, Tilbury2, that this plays a major role in the project. The Construction Academy will ensure that people are skilled for not only the T2 project but for future work opportunities which help our local and wider economies. Tilbury2 is a significant project for our business, our customers and the local communities and we look forward to it being operational next year.” When operational in Spring 2020, Tilbury2 will be the UK’s largest unaccompanied freight ferry port, the country’s biggest construction processing hub and will see the creation of a new significantly larger rail head which can accommodate the longest freight trains of 775m. GRAHAM is delivering both the Terrestrial and Marine packages of work and is currently underway with works including Roll-On/Roll-Off (RoRo), highway works, the relocation of the existing railhead, and a fixed structural steel bridge to the linkspan.   SECTA is supporting businesses and residents across south Essex, with hubs in Southend and Basildon as well as Thurrock.  For details about SECTA visit www.sectatraining.co.uk or call 01702 212856.