Targeted Training – Industry Skills
- loraineh8
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Thriving NC Group eyes Tees Valley expansion
Ambitious – as NC Group managing director, Teessider Liam Noble wants to expand the training provider’s reach to the Tees region.
As featured in Tees Business. Picture: Chris Booth | Words: Dave Robson
It provides training excellence for Industry from its Aycliffe base – and now NC Group has its eyes on expansion in the Tees Valley.
In 2017, experienced industry and education professionals Ian Nelson and Lee Childs – hence NC – set up their own private company to provide bespoke training and consultancy services specifically for the engineering and manufacturing sector.
Initially based in Bishop Auckland before moving to Aycliffe Business Park, its USP was, and remains, a focus on industry skills and building skilled workforces.
Whether working directly with companies – including big-hitters such as 3M and Gestamp – or by acquiring adult skills funding through the likes of Stockton Riverside College (part of the Education Training Collective group), NC Group provides access to high-quality education and training for all, regardless of background and ability.
Its expanding 30-plus-strong team coordinates training programmes that contain hands-on, real-world content. The NC Training Academy at Parson’s Court has office space, training rooms and a fully equipped training facility and workshop.
And with a coveted Ofsted Outstanding rating for its apprenticeship provision, and imminent plans to expand the training academies with off-site, industry-specific training centres, it’s perhaps little wonder that the leadership team believe the time feels right to do more in the Tees Valley.
MD Liam Noble explained: “We have our own on-site workshop and have just acquired an industrial unit nearby to expand the workshop. We are investing in what we do.
“That sort of investment shows our ambition as well and where we are as a company. It’s not just a case of ‘we’re going to stick with what we’ve got’. “I envisage us in the not-too-distant future having some kind of a similar setup within the Tees Valley as we do here at Aycliffe – that’s certainly our plan.”
Its services have certainly served NC Group’s clients well – whether through its industry-specific apprenticeship programmes, which currently have around 120 apprentices on board, delivering bespoke training and services, or upskilling a firm’s existing staff at all levels.
Liam said: “From the start, the whole idea was not to do generic courses that everyone’s delivering and trying to fit in every need – we thought ‘let’s tailor it and build it around what our clients’ actual needs are. Let’s go out, listen to them and provide a bespoke, quality service.”
NC Group has also acquired approval to deliver HNCs (Higher National Certificates), which, says Liam, is a notable achievement for an independent training provider.
He said: “We are one of very few in the whole of the region that can proudly say we deliver HNC qualifications.”
And as we talk to Liam in the office he shares with operations director Neil Mounsey, it’s clear this born-and-bred Teessider is excited about NC Group’s future – and keen to get more involved in the area he calls home.
Liam said: “I’ve seen the impact we’ve had in the Aycliffe area, which has been great and will continue to be so, but coming from Teesside myself, I know the impact we can have there.
“I see it almost as a ‘must’ for us to offer our services more in that area.”
When it comes to delivering training, NC Group is happy to go to the client’s premises to deliver onsite or to accommodate learners at its Aycliffe HQ.
And as for the future, Liam is confident the group’s stated mission – to provide training excellence for industry and investing in people – will continue to be delivered.
He said: “What we’d like to do more of in the Tees Valley is to work with some Industry leaders in the area, like we currently do with Harrison Packaging, who have a base in Thornaby, especially around the core sectors that we work in – manufacturing, engineering, logistics.
“Essentially, we’re saying ‘we’re here, we provide a quality service to people within Aycliffe Business Park, but we’d like to be able to provide this service to the Tees Valley a lot more too’.”
To find out how we can support your team, call 01388 737121 or email training@ncgroupltd.co.uk.