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North Highland College UHI is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Giles Huby as the new Director of its Engineering, Technology and the Energy Centre (ETEC) at its Thurso campus.
Mr Giles Huby, originally from Yorkshire, is a chartered engineer and Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has nearly 30 years’ experience in the design, development and maintenance of engineering systems for the aerospace and defence sectors from his time as an engineering officer in the RAF and then as the co-founder and managing director of a specialist technology and training business based in Moray.
Commenting on his new role, Giles said; “I am genuinely very excited about my new role. I think it is very important to continue to provide courses and skills that meet the local employer needs, but also to look forward and grow our involvement in emerging sectors and technologies, including the planned spaceport, battery technology and offshore wind.”
North Highland College UHI offers engineering courses in various disciplines and levels and has recently developed a fully online MSc in Engineering and MSc in Mechanical Engineering available to start from this September.
Principal Donald MacBeath, commented; “I am delighted to welcome Giles to the College as our new Director of ETEC. The Centre plays a key role for the College and the University of the Highlands and Islands in delivering the high quality engineering and technology skills needed locally, regionally and nationally. In particular, I very much look forward to seeing Giles leading the ETEC response to the skills development opportunities arising from the many, varied technology-based business activities here in the north Highlands”.
North Highland College UHI and Developing the Young Workforce North Highland (DYW) initiative, led by Caithness Chamber of Commerce, have signed a partnership agreement to formalise their new initiative, The Apprenticeship Hub.
The initiative aims to create a collaborative approach between North Highland College UHI and Developing the Young Workforce North Highland to support growth in the apprenticeship family to benefit the Caithness and Sutherland economy.
Principal of North Highland College UHI, Donald MacBeath, said: “The College has played an active role in the Developing the Young Workforce North Highland since its inception. The strength of the partnership working between college staff and local employers is already evident in the year-on-year growth in the number and range of apprenticeship opportunities we provide, with over 150 apprentices currently enrolled with us in disciplines such as Engineering, Care, Business, Hospitality, Gamekeeping and Hairdressing. I look forward to seeing further new and exciting apprenticeship opportunities being developed and promoted through the new Apprenticeship Hub.”
The agreement was signed at the North Highland College UHI open evening and exam results drop in session at the Thurso Campus. Lecturers and student services teams were on hand offering advice and guidance to school leavers, those returning to education, employers and young people looking for information on modern apprenticeships.
The new initiative, supported and welcomed by Mr Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Business, Skills and Fair Work said: “I was pleased to hear about the successful open evening at North Highland College and the important partnership between themselves and Developing the Young Workforce North Highland. The new apprenticeship hub will provide vital advice and support to young people in this region, helping them to understand their available options and allowing them to pursue the right path for them.“
Jamie continued, “Developing the Young Workforce is Scotland’s youth employment strategy, with the main aim being to reduce youth unemployment levels by 40% by 2021. I’m delighted to say this target was achieved – four years ahead of schedule. Going forward we are committed to strengthening partnerships across the country to sustain and build on this progress.”
The partners in the Hub will work together to coordinate and grow Work Based Learning pathways, engaging with employers to help simplify the apprenticeship offer and demonstrate a return on their investment in the skills system.
Caithness Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Trudy Morris said: “Two of the key objectives for the DYW initiative are to boost employment and work experience opportunities in the region, and to strengthen partnerships between businesses and education providers.
“Ensuring that employers throughout the North Highlands have a clear understanding of the benefits offered by the apprenticeship family and engaging with them to increase the uptake of apprenticeships of all types is key to meeting these goals and to ensuring that young people throughout the region have access to the employment and skills development opportunities they need.”
North Highland College UHI is one of thirteen academic partners of the University in the Highlands and Islands providing college and university courses across the north Highlands region.
In June The Caithness Collection were delighted to announce that two more of their Modern Apprentices completed their SVQ Level 3 in Hospitality Supervision and Leadership in collaboration with North Highland College UHI(NHC).
Emma Farmer and David Henderson both completed their qualification by attending NHC while gaining experience working with The Caithness Collection in their three hotels, The Norseman Hotel Wick, Castletown Hotel and The Pentland Hotel Thurso. They worked in each of the key departments, gaining experience at the coal face and working through to leading the teams to equip for their future career in management.
Andrew Mackay, Owner of The Caithness Collection, said: “It has been very rewarding for us to help Emma and David mature in their roles and to see them learn the theory in the classroom and put it into practice almost immediately, testing themselves in a safe yet challenging environment. The NHC has been fantastic in leading them through the challenges and getting them Industry ready for their future roles in hospitality.
Donald MacBeath, Principal of North Highland College UHI commented “I was delighted to learn of the successful outcomes achieved by both Emma and David. I feel they have both taken full advantage of the excellent training opportunities made available to them through the strong partnership relationship between The Caithness Collection and North Highland College. I congratulate them both and wish them every success in their future careers in the Hospitality sector.“
Emma and David look forward to graduating in September with their qualifications and have taken up management roles within The Caithness Collection.
Mental health and employee wellbeing has been put at the forefront of the agenda at Dounreay.
The organisation has recognised the benefits of a mentally and physically healthy workplace that takes care of its people and nurtures a supportive working environment.
Actions have been put in place focusing on health and wellbeing, featuring a number of principle areas from demonstrating management buy-in, to implementing new and updated policies and equipping line managers with the tools and confidence to have conversations about mental health.
Events have been organised during the year such as a walk at work challenge – encouraging everyone to get away from their workstation at lunchtime, walk 5,000 steps and be rewarded with a healthy snack at the end. Despite terrible weather conditions there was a great turnout.
A wellbeing room has also been opened, providing easily accessible information for everyone about the importance of physical and mental wellbeing. It also offers an insight into what you can do to help yourself, as well as providing outlining support that is available.
Recognising the different ways in which people can improve their personal wellbeing, Dounreay is also supporting a corporate scheme with High Life Highland, enabling DSRL staff and their families to benefit from a 10% reduction in the cost of local gym and swimming pool membership.
Kirsty McIntosh, Dounreay’s Occupational Health Clinical Services Manager, says: “Wellbeing is a complex issue and a relatively new topic of discussion for staff at Dounreay. One activity and one success will not solve it, it is about creating a culture and environment which supports future discussions and decisions to support individual wellbeing.
“This is an area of work the team at Dounreay passionately believes in and is one that not only has the potential to benefit the workforce in the future, but is already helping and supporting individuals today.”
Thurso-based non-profit organisation Cyber Security Scotland has created a cyber security standard that will be adopted by every public body in Scotland.
Dr Keith Nicholson, founder and Executive Chair of Cyber Security Scotland explains: “We were commissioned by the Scottish Government to develop a framework that combined over a dozen different security standards and guidelines into a single model that public bodies could follow to ensure compliance with standards such as Cyber Essentials, GDPR and ISO27001. This has not been attempted previously and it was a significant and complex task to build the model.”
The Cyber Resilience Framework created by Cyber Security Scotland has been issued to over 120 organisations – feedback has been 100% positive. Comments such as “an impressive piece of work, an example of Scottish innovation” were not unusual such has been the high praise for the framework.
“We’re really pleased with the response” said Dr Nicholson “It took several months of hard work to develop the model, so to receive such acclaim is very rewarding.” The innovative approach taken by Dr Nicholson has been recognised outside Scotland; the model has been positively considered by the UK National Cyber Security Centre and the Scottish Government has received enquiries from as far away as Australia.
This work follows an earlier extensive piece of work by Cyber Security Scotland to create a standardised cyber security policy and guidance for every health board in Scotland.
“We have more work to do” explained Dr Nicholson, “we’re working with local firm Navertech to develop a self-assessment tool for public bodies to evaluate their cyber security status and creating a uniform auditing procedure. Once this programme of work is completed, Cyber Security Scotland will have developed standards and cyber security models for every public body in Scotland, something that gives us great pride and satisfaction.”
AN international technology-led services and payments specialist as the newest tenant to Thurso Business Park.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has developed the site to enable local firms to expand and to attract new companies into the area.
Equiniti Group plc is the latest company to move in, bringing its 32 employees to William Smith House.
The firm provides non-discretionary payment and administration services to some of the world’s best-known brands and UK’s largest public-sector organisations. Its EQPaymaster division is one of the largest providers of outsourced pension administration in the UK.
Equiniti supports around nine million pension scheme members and pays around 20 per cent of UK pensioners, delivering £25 billion in payments to 3.5 million pensioners and annuitants in 2017.
The company’s Caithness office administers pensions for the nuclear industry clients UKAEA and Combined Nuclear Pension Plan (CNPP).
Equiniti says the move to Thurso Business Park will enhance the company’s capabilities and help support the future expansion of its Caithness workforce.
Julie McGee, senior development manager at HIE’s Caithness and Sutherland area team, said:
“We are delighted to support Equiniti in moving to Thurso Business Park. The move gives the team room to expand and opens up the prospect of further job creation.
“This is a good move for the company and good news for the local economy and for Thurso Business Park.”
Sa Campbell, operations manager at Equiniti, said: “As part of our growth plans, the decision to move in to the excellent facilities at William Smith House in Thurso Business Park was an important one.
“Equiniti takes great pride in its Caithness links and views the move to a larger office facility as a great positive, enabling us to further develop our plans for future growth.
“Now that our award-winning pension administration platform, Compendia Touch, is operational, the team has the opportunity to take on more contracts, in addition to the existing work. This in turn will provide local people the opportunity to work in an environment which is continually evolving.”
More than 300 people are now employed at Thurso Business Park, working for companies such as AGM Batteries and Denchi Power, which jointly occupy Denchi House; BT Plc, which has a call centre in Alexander Bain House; and Wolfburn, which operates its whisky distillery from the park.
Only two plots remain on the park. A third plot is currently under construction.
Source: www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk
LYTH Arts Centre has plenty to celebrate ahead of its summer programme with the announcement that audience figures have reached an all-time high.
With the venue coming to the end of its spring season, the team yesterday revealed a record number of visitors to its events, gigs and performances. This comes after a rebrand which saw the launch of a new-look website and a brochure which was delivered to every household in Caithness.
The centre’s marketing manager, Calvin Wilson, said: “The rebrand and new website have been revolutionary – we’ve had a 50 per cent increase in website traffic since we launched the site which is much more user-friendly. We’ve also absorbed all booking fees and reduced ticket prices which helps more people get along to events.”
Between March and June, Lyth Arts Centre had 2209 visitors, which is over double the same period in 2018. As well as attracting hundreds of first-time visitors, Lyth hosted 20 sold-out performances from theatre companies and bands from across Scotland and the world.
The team have put some of this down to new events which included hosting their first performance for audiences with profound and multiple learning difficulties, their first show for audiences with profound autism, a new line-up of Scottish documentaries and special food and ticket deals with Whaligoe Steps Café.
Charlotte Mountford and Tom Barnes were employed to run the arts centre as co-directors from November 2017 and they said they were delighted to receive open-project funding from Creative Scotland over 2018/19 “to bring cutting-edge theatre, music, dance and much more to Caithness”.
Lyth – Scotland’s most northerly mainland arts centre – opens its summer season this week with gigs by Moishe’s Bagel and Ivan Drever and a new exhibition. A summer brochure is available to order online or can be picked up in various locations across the county.
A new autumn brochure with details about events from September onwards will be posted through every home in Caithness in the next few weeks.
Source: John O’Groat Journal
A THURSO based company is at the forefront of creating a greener, cleaner and more efficient rail network with its contribution to Britain’s first hydrogen-powered train.
Denchi Group supplied specialist SLICE batteries for the HydroFLEX train that had a trial run last week at an event in the West Midlands called Rail Live 2019.
Derek Campbell, the company’s operations and finance director said: “It’s great for the Denchi team to be part of the HydroFLEX project and see the results come to life in the recent trial.
“Energy storage is a fast growing market and I’m delighted our hard-working team from Caithness is at the forefront of delivering this technology.”
Based at Thurso Business Park, the Denchi Group have been operating there since 2014 and employ 45 people – some of whom have experience stretching back 30 years. The core business has been Lithium-Ion battery packs for military equipment such as radio communications and the company is the sole supplier for the UK Army’s standard radio battery.
Andrew Cowie, SLICE product manager at Denchi said “We have been working on SLICE for over two years. To have it make its successful debut on such an important project as HydroFLEX is testament to the engineering skills and battery know-how that we have.”
The mainline testing of the hydrogen-powered train marks an important step in the development of a zero-carbon emission propulsion system that could help to decarbonise Britain’s railway system.
In the pilot run, a hydrogen powerpack was fitted to an existing Class 319 train resulting in a highly flexible vehicle with the potential to operate on different parts of Britain’s rail network.
Two hydrogen-powered trains currently operate in Germany and the UK is looking to become one of the next countries to start running them.
Unlike diesel trains, hydrogen-powered trains do not emit harmful gases, instead using hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, water and heat. In the test, the hydrogen tanks, fuel cell and SLICE batteries sat inside carriages but the equipment will have to be stored away above and beneath the train in future commercial models.
The 614.4V lithium iron phosphate batteries form a critical part of the system and have a total of 92kWh of energy storage – equivalent to boiling 60 2kw kettles simultaneously for 45 minutes.
Mr Cowie said “ SLICE has a great future in the renewables and smart power sectors, but now this project shows a key future role in the decarbonisation of transportation.”
A quarter of the UK’s trains run solely off diesel and the government wants them phased out by 2040.
The Hydroflex train will start running tests on the UK mainline from March under the auspices of rolling stock company Porterbrook and in partnership with Birmingham University’s centre for Railway Research.
Source: John O’Groat Journal