SCOTTISH Water has launched a skills academy to develop hundreds of water engineers at a purpose-built training facility in Glasgow.

The publicly-owned utility said that up to 400 employees each year were expected to benefit from its academy at Balmore water treatment works.

This training facility has been kitted out with its own test rig to simulate real-life scenarios, such as work on water mains and pipes.

Scottish Water said that five of its long-serving employees – with more than 120 years of experience between them – would pass on their knowledge and expertise.

It emphasised that expert training would also be given to some of its partners. Scottish Water noted the facility at Balmore had already been used to provide training to fire service employees on the use of hydrants.

The skills academy is the brainchild of Paul Campbell, organisational learning and development lead at Scottish Water.

Mr Campbell said: “This is about both managing knowledge and transferring knowledge.”

He added: “Clearly, it is vital that our next generation coming through the business are equipped with the skills and knowledge to perform effectively.

“But what the skills academy will also do is allow us to continue to work with our more experienced workers. The skills academy will allow them to be trained in new skills, and to feel confident that they can continue to play an important role in the future of our business,”

Aberdeen-based Raymond Johnston, one of the instructors at the skills academy, said: “I have worked for Scottish Water and its predecessors for 34 years and I am very excited by this new development of training up existing experienced employees to develop and deliver training and support learning in our business.”

Highlighting benefits for Scottish Water customers, he added: “I joined the skills academy as it is an excellent opportunity to help enhance the skills of the distribution employees who work for Scottish Water.

“We are developing new methods of working on the water network and this will benefit our customers by cutting down on the number of interruptions to their water supply and help to maintain the high quality of water we are providing.”

Scottish Water’s development of the skills academy was welcomed by Deputy First Minister John Swinney.

He said: “The Scottish Water skills academy…will equip the staff at Scottish Water and other organisations in Scotland and beyond with the skills essential to running a first-class water business.

“We are fully focused on growing the economy, and training programmes such as this are essential to ensuring everyone, young or old, is able to fulfil their potential.”

Scottish Water said that the staff who would be trained at the skills academy included operational employees who maintain the utility’s 30,000 miles of pipes.

It added that each employee would spend around two days a year in the facility. This skills development would be complemented by on-the-job training.

Mr Campbell said: “We think the approach we’ve taken is innovative as it’s also allowed us to bring in more apprentices to the areas where we’ve recruited our instructors. It’s about blending wisdom and youth and we’re sure there will be considerable interest in how it is developing.”