The Collab group of colleges will manage the apprenticeship provision for infrastructure and public support service provider Amey, the college group has announced.

Collab Group, which brings together 36 large colleges, will act as Amey’s exclusive supplier of apprenticeship training, delivering it across multiple service areas, including highways and engineering, as well as providing team leader and management training for senior staff. This is the second agreement of its kind for the UK-wide group, which announced in May that it would deliver training for property, residential, construction and services group Kier’s apprenticeship scheme.

Collab member Activate Apprenticeships will be lead provider, and with the group and Amey will map existing training courses to the new apprenticeship standards. Eventually, this is then to be rolled out to around 1,000 Amey managers, Collab Group said.  

Challenging ‘the traditional approach’

The group’s chief executive, Ian Pretty, pictured, said: “We are continuing to challenge the traditional approach of apprenticeship delivery by offering Amey and others access to our unique, national-managed service model.”

He added: “Our colleges are deeply embedded in their local communities, and our national delivery network across the UK makes us uniquely placed to offer customised and flexible provision to a range of clients within the engineering industry and beyond. We greatly look forward to working with Amey to invest in their talent and harness the collective expertise of our network of forward-thinking and dynamic colleges.”

And Ian Deninson, Amey’s group HR and communications director, said the organisation strongly believed in investing in its apprentices and employees, allowing them to gain the skills and confidence that will serve them through a long career with Amey.“With a diverse range of apprenticeships available and with our UK geographical spread, we believe that working in partnership with Collab Group, with their locally based colleges, will support our apprentices, ensuring they have access to tailored and professional training that’s local to them,” he said.

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