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BLUE SKILLS

As the anchor institution for skills within Britain’s Ocean City, the College is a leader in the blue/maritime sector and this area is a key strategic priority for the region, the city and the College. The city is already a national leader in maritime defence, marine technology, marine leisure boat production, and is also one of eight regions with Freeport status.

Meeting Industry Needs

Within this thriving sector there are significant recruitment and skills needs. To meet these demands we have:

  • lead on the maritime and defence sector skills partnership with Babcock International Group on behalf of the city identifying and coordinating the development of the essential skills required to meet the sector need
  • grown our Apprenticeship provision at level 3 and Higher Apprenticeship level
  • developed a range of level 3 Skills Bootcamps
  • developed cooperative arrangements for workforce planning with key employers to create and deliver a skills pipeline to the sector meeting future skills needs
  • expanded our marine boat outfitting and engineering offer to meet marine leisure boat sector demand
  • developed outstanding immersive learning resources to deliver training for high risk activities in a safe, simulated environment while also realising significant resource savings.

Developing Sector-Leading Maritime Skills and Facilities

The College recognises the need for the city to have sector leading facilities to provide the skills to the sector, supporting growth and innovation. The College has already built a Centre for Higher Technical Innovation & Maritime Skills in collaboration with key employers such as Babcock International Group, and funded through the SWIoT – however, there remains the need for significant further development of facilities. Following the award of T Level wave five funding we will further develop our engineering facilities to increase the capacity of both welding, marine defence and manufacturing – an essential requirement to meet the skills needs of the maritime sector.

Plymouth Sound National Marine Park (PSNMP)

The city’s blue sector also includes the visitor economy which, in early 2024, received a significant boost in investment to enable the delivery of a £22 million transformational five-year programme for the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park (PSNMP) to help connect people with the coastline on their doorstep.

Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City, leads the way to becoming the UK’s first National Marine Park after announcing £11.6 million funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This substantial investment will enable the delivery of the transformational five-year programme that will engage an entire city in its landscape and heritage. The project will revolutionise the way Plymouth interacts with its heritage, promoting a more harmonious relationship with the ocean and creating hundreds of jobs.

Combining blue and digital, a Digital Marine Park will also bring to life the amazing heritage of Plymouth Sound in a unique way online – opening up the UK’s first National Marine Park to a global audience. This particular aspect of the project will enable people who cannot get in, on, under, or near the waters of PSNMP – either in real-time or ondemand, enabling them to see what lies beneath the waves and increase passion and awareness around the nature and heritage of the place.

Boosting the Visitor Economy and Job Growth

The city’s vision is to create and sustain a 33% growth in jobs in the visitor economy, equating to 4,000 new jobs in the city by 2026. These jobs will require traditional skills as well as digital skills, including multi-trade roles which can span across the various roles within this sector. Furthermore, with the visitor economy sector including leisure, the announcement of funding for the ocean aspect will provide wider opportunities for roles within both the leisure (sport) and health and active wellbeing areas.

Action

Development of broader blue skills curriculum with increased delivery of welding, marine defence and manufacturing provision.

Get in touch

Main Campus
City College Plymouth

Kings Road, Devonport, Plymouth, PL1 5QG

Give us a call on: 01752 305300

E-mail us at: info@cityplym.ac.uk