Overview – Engineering, Technology and Energy Centre (ETEC)

UHI North, West and Hebrides has a well-established Engineering, Technology and Energy Centre (ETEC) in Thurso supporting learning from senior phase school courses to post graduate study. This has been vital in supporting a thriving engineering pipeline, many of whom have traditionally gone into either the nuclear or oil and gas industries. As we move towards Net Zero and a fast-developing green energy sector, we work will support the over 50 engineering employers we currently work with throughout the Highlands and Islands to develop into the supply chain to enable this growth.

Gap the project addresses

As we transition towards renewable energy sources, we continue to offer strong foundations in traditional skills that support the development of the future workforce. However, a key gap has been identified in the principles of maintenance rather than replacement. Engineering maintenance is key to achieving net zero targets as it examines the reliability and efficiency of energy intensive systems, minimising waste and maximising performance. It prevents the breakdown of engineering systems and maximises the lifespan of key assets.

Policy and funding

In October 2023, we applied for funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund though Highland Council for our Green Engineers for the Future project. This project funded the development of a 5-day training course in the principals of green engineering maintenance in the workforce across the North of Scotland.  This funding enabled us to develop a 5-day training programme and create a space dedicated to engineering maintenance. The training programme provided learners with the foundational theory of green engineering and sustainability through the 12 Principles of Green Engineering. The aim of this project was to support local employers, and future engineers understand how they can work towards net zero through adjusting everyday practices. It showcases that net zero is not just about new technologies but also how to “green” traditional skills and processes. It gave participants a foundation of understanding to enable them to see unsustainable practices and identify solutions to these problems.

Impact to date

The project supported, 63 trainees who attended the six one-week sessions between March 2024 and January 2025, supported by 10 employers. On top of this the 50 school link students from the three local high schools also undertook this training. This training immediately upskilled the current workforce but now it is complete, we will be able to offer further upskilling in Green Engineering Maintenance where needed, but more than that, we are able to embed these principles in the students of every level who come through the engineering training at UHI North, West and Hebrides. The training and maintenance facility are owned by UHI North, West and Hebrides and we will use this to create start of a Green Skills Academy, offering further training to local companies to help them both reduce their own carbon footprint while transitioning into supporting the green energy growth in the Highlands.

Contribution to just transition

This project supports Scotland’s just transition by delivering the additional skills and education needed to equip people with both academic and vocational opportunities. These will enable the creation of new jobs and help retain existing staff through upskilling for roles in the green economy.

Local employers continue to secure contracts that involve core engineering competencies, and many are now seeking staff who can be upskilled in sustainable practices to address current engineering challenges more effectively. Our delivery, grounded in the 12 Principles of Green Engineering, offers a strong foundation to meet these evolving needs.

We are committed to developing our programmes further, working in close partnership with employers to support innovation and strengthen their capacity to secure and deliver renewable energy contracts.

Local and regional industrial heritage

The North of Scotland has a long-standing track record of delivering engineering training for those working at the Dounreay nuclear site. What began as Thurso College now part of UHI North, West and Hebrides College was founded over 60 years ago specifically to support the training needs of Dounreay. Over the decades, we have trained numerous apprentices in electronic, electrical, and mechanical engineering.

As Dounreay transitioned into the decommissioning phase, we worked closely with site staff and local employers to identify the future academic and vocational training needs of the region. Building on our strong engineering heritage, this collaboration aimed to ensure that the North of Scotland remained well-positioned to meet the skills demands of both the nuclear sector and emerging industries.

In response, the Engineering, Technology and Energy Centre (ETEC) was established in 2012, with a clear focus on reskilling and upskilling individuals, not only for ongoing nuclear decommissioning work but also for the evolving demands of the green economy. Our current project takes this vision further by embedding green skills across our curriculum. We are introducing targeted training courses that focus on key concepts such as sustainable maintenance practices and the 12 Principles of Green Engineering, ensuring our learners are equipped for the future of low-carbon industry.

Benefits to the local area

One of the key benefits of the project so far has been the number of individuals trained or retrained in green engineering principles. This has helped build confidence among employers in the North of Scotland, many of whom are shifting their focus away from Dounreay nuclear site contracts and looking instead toward opportunities in the low-carbon economy.

Our close, collaborative approach with employers allows us to both advise them effectively and gain valuable insight into emerging contract opportunities. This partnership ensures we can shape relevant academic and vocational programmes that support and sustain a skilled, future-ready workforce as the region continues its transition to a low-carbon future.

Lessons learned

This project was very successful in achieving its initial aims. It proved a drive in local businesses to move towards net zero both for their own business and for the areas they work in. This project demonstrated a keen desire to understand the principles and importance of engineering maintenance within the workforce. From the initial funding investment of £111039, plus £60,000 in internal match funding, UHI NWH has been able to create a work area which can demonstrate the skills needed in some green sector jobs, including understanding wind turbines and how they work through the turbine simulator, and diagnosing, repairing and replacing solar panels. The key legacy for the project is having the Green Maintenance Lab where future students will be able to learn these skills and embed them in their own work practices as they enter industry.

Challenges

A key lesson that we learnt is that employers need short and sharp training for upskilling. A 5 day in person training course was difficult to for employers, especially of SMEs to lose a team member for. For future training, we would break this into smaller 1-2 day chunks of training with progression into additional training if needed. UHI NWH would like to further develop into green energy but the current funding model for colleges means that we are only funded for delivery, and further education and modern apprenticeship funding has remained stagnant or been cut, which means that we are at the maximum of what we can deliver in Engineering and developing further green training programmes would need significant additional investment in infrastructure and equipment.

Replication and scaling

This training could be replicated and scaled up in other areas, with investment. UHI North, West and Hebrides would like to invest in developing a Green Skills Academy. This will develop further training for business in the local area who are entering the offshore renewable sector and support the growth of this sector. We would also like to increase our number of senior phase students, students who from 4th-6th year of high school, attend college for one day a week to learn a specific subject. This year we had enough applicants for an additional cohort of school link students on the Engineering Systems pathway but due to funding, we could not run this. This is in part because of lack of transport funding from Highland Council to be able to transport the students, and the limit we have on credits we can claim from school link programmes. As this exposure to engineering pathways at this stage is the key feeder into the future workforce, underfunding at this stage creates issues in supplying the workforce for a growing industry in the future.

Overview  – Peatlands

Peatland is the best carbon sink with more carbon stored in the peatlands of the Flow Country than in all the forests in the UK and as such, maintaining and restoring them is one of the key areas in which we can achieve ambitious net zero targets. As such, Scotland’s landscapes have a vital role to play in supporting the ambitious targets for climate change mitigation, highlighted with the key pillars of the Climate Change Plan in the land use sector: peatland restoration and woodland expansion. In 2020, the Scottish Government pledged £250M to deliver 250,000 ha of restoration intervention across Scottish peatlands. A huge challenge was the urgent need to skill up the workforce that could ramp up the delivery from 6000 ha annually in 2019-20 to more than 20,000 ha per year.

UHI North, West and Hebrides holds global research expertise in peatland restoration within its Environmental Research Institute (ERI) and provides a wide provision of courses with relevance to the land-use sector at all levels. However, a new model of delivery was needed targeting the core workforce in the emerging peatland restoration sector, blending research expertise with the practical skills and delivery of the Further Education sector.

In 2024-2025, in partnership with NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION, a UHI North, West and Hebrides team developed and delivered four new short courses in the North Highland region, skilling more than 40 learners and leading to regional growth in the sector. Further courses are already in planning, and the college is in the process of developing a strategy to build pathways for peatlands going forward.

Gap the project addresses

UHI North, West and Hebrides is an anchor institution aiming to have a transformative impact on communities in the North and West Highlands, Skye and Outer Hebrides by encouraging people to live, work and study here. With high depopulation rates in the region and changing demographics, opportunities in new careers and sectors that didn’t exist a decade ago are vital to bring back or retain younger people in the area and sustain a whole supply chain around it. While the need for more skilled contractors for peatland restoration is evident and the focus of a Scottish Government task force, there are still only limited provision of training opportunities in Scotland in the sector. Scotland currently lacks a credible mechanism to build up the skill force needed to deliver restoration at the scale that is urgently needed and support other sectors where the same skills are needed, such as onshore wind and energy infrastructure. Crucially, despite holding the lion’s share of Scottish peatland, the Highlands and Islands region had no provision for training on peatland restoration at all – until UHI North, West and Hebrides partnered up with Peatland ACTION through the “For Peat’s Sake” project.

A key challenge for the team was to design innovative restoration short-courses that could appeal to the two different types of audiences: the digger drivers and machinery operators who deliver restoration on the ground, and the restoration project designers who map, plan and manage the delivery. The courses needed to focus on practical, hands-on skills but to provide enough background information and context to bring in completely new entrants in the sector. With this in mind, the UHI NWH “For Peat’s sake” team worked with NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION to develop two contractor courses (a 5 day one and a 2 day one) incorporating latest research knowledge emerging from ERI, a new introductory course on protected species, and a specialist course on GIS for peatland restoration (online delivery).

Ownership model

“For Peat’s Sake” is a partnership between UHI North, West and Hebrides and NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION but training is owned and delivered by UHI North, West and Hebrides.

Policy and funding

Funding provided by NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION. Initial funding came through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, through Highland Council but subsequent funding has been directly from Peatland Action.

Impact to date

The training has already been transformational for the region: one of the local contractors who attended the first course in September 2024 was able to secure a large contract and credited the training for giving him more confidence in the opportunities likely to come. He expanded his business and recruited three more operators in his team, who brought families along. In small rural locations, this may be enough to prevent schools from closing. It was picked up by the media, including the BBC, putting a spotlight on the region. Link: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7346864459837005824

The demand and appetite for the training in the region was obvious: all the courses were fully booked within hours of being announced, with long waiting lists and participants willing to travel large distances to attend. This spurred UHI North, West and Hebrides to consider the next steps and to start planning for the 2025-26 delivery and to start developing a longer-term strategy for “Peatlands pathways” reflecting the tertiary nature of the college.

Contribution to just transition

Peatland is the best carbon sink with more carbon stored in the peatlands of the Flow Country than in all the forests in the UK and as such, maintaining and restoring them is one of the key areas in which we can achieve ambitious net zero targets. As such, Scotland’s landscapes have a vital role to play in supporting the ambitious targets for climate change mitigation, highlighted with the key pillars of the Climate Change Plan in the land use sector: peatland restoration and woodland expansion. In 2020, the Scottish Government pledged £250M to deliver 250,000 ha of restoration intervention across Scottish peatlands. A huge challenge was the urgent need to skill up the workforce that could ramp up the delivery from 6000 ha annually in 2019-20 to more than 20,000 ha per year.

UHI North, West and Hebrides holds global research expertise in peatland restoration within its Environmental Research Institute (ERI) and provides a wide provision of courses with relevance to the land-use sector at all levels. However, a new model of delivery was needed targeting the core workforce in the emerging peatland restoration sector, blending research expertise with the practical skills and delivery of the Further Education sector.

In 2024-2025, in partnership with NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION, a UHI North, West and Hebrides team developed and delivered four new short courses in the North Highland region, skilling more than 40 learners and leading to regional growth in the sector. Further courses are already in planning, and the college is in the process of developing a strategy to build pathways for peatlands going forward.

Gap the project addresses

UHI North, West and Hebrides is an anchor institution aiming to have a transformative impact on communities in the North and West Highlands, Skye and Outer Hebrides by encouraging people to live, work and study here. With high depopulation rates in the region and changing demographics, opportunities in new careers and sectors that didn’t exist a decade ago are vital to bring back or retain younger people in the area and sustain a whole supply chain around it. While the need for more skilled contractors for peatland restoration is evident and the focus of a Scottish Government task force, there are still only limited provision of training opportunities in Scotland in the sector. Scotland currently lacks a credible mechanism to build up the skill force needed to deliver restoration at the scale that is urgently needed and support other sectors where the same skills are needed, such as onshore wind and energy infrastructure. Crucially, despite holding the lion’s share of Scottish peatland, the Highlands and Islands region had no provision for training on peatland restoration at all – until UHI North, West and Hebrides partnered up with Peatland ACTION through the “For Peat’s Sake” project.

A key challenge for the team was to design innovative restoration short-courses that could appeal to the two different types of audiences: the digger drivers and machinery operators who deliver restoration on the ground, and the restoration project designers who map, plan and manage the delivery. The courses needed to focus on practical, hands-on skills but to provide enough background information and context to bring in completely new entrants in the sector. With this in mind, the UHI NWH “For Peat’s sake” team worked with NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION to develop two contractor courses (a 5 day one and a 2 day one) incorporating latest research knowledge emerging from ERI, a new introductory course on protected species, and a specialist course on GIS for peatland restoration (online delivery).

Ownership model

“For Peat’s Sake” is a partnership between UHI North, West and Hebrides and NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION but training is owned and delivered by UHI North, West and Hebrides.

Policy and funding

Funding provided by NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION. Initial funding came through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, through Highland Council but subsequent funding has been directly from Peatland Action.

Impact to date

The training has already been transformational for the region: one of the local contractors who attended the first course in September 2024 was able to secure a large contract and credited the training for giving him more confidence in the opportunities likely to come. He expanded his business and recruited three more operators in his team, who brought families along. In small rural locations, this may be enough to prevent schools from closing. It was picked up by the media, including the BBC, putting a spotlight on the region. Link: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7346864459837005824

The demand and appetite for the training in the region was obvious: all the courses were fully booked within hours of being announced, with long waiting lists and participants willing to travel large distances to attend. This spurred UHI North, West and Hebrides to consider the next steps and to start planning for the 2025-26 delivery and to start developing a longer-term strategy for “Peatlands pathways” reflecting the tertiary nature of the college.

This project supports a wide range Just Transition outcomes, including:

• Empowering communities and strengthening local economies – providing learning opportunities that provide local jobs and allow local communities to protect and responsibly manage peatlands for the benefit of their own communities.
• Job, skills and education – providing learning opportunities to support a wide range of people upskill, including those involved in groundswork, restoration project designers, and those working in environmental/sustainable land use.
• Adaption and resilience/environmental protection and restoration/decarbonisation – peatlands play a critical role in mitigating climate change by storing carbon dioxide. In doing so, they cool the climate. They are significant in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. Protection of peatlands also support biodiversity loss.

Local and regional industrial heritage

The project was delivered in the world’s first and only peatland World Heritage Site – the Flow Country – a project that UHI North, West and Hebrides also had a leading role in delivering, from inception in 2015 to inscription in 2024. The Flow Country is a vast peat bog that covers much of Caithness and Sutherland in the north of Scotland and stores approximately 400 million tonnes of carbon.  It is called blanket bog because it covers the landscape like a blanket and is a type of habitat that is globally rare, but one that is ideally suited to Scotland’s climate and maritime location. The 4,000 sq. km area is home to a hugely complex and fragile ecosystem with a vast array of plants that act as an important defence against climate change.

World Heritage Site status is predicted to help realise a wide range of environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits for the North of Scotland including the creation of skills and job opportunities in landscape restoration and conservation, growth in sustainable tourism and hospitality, and the potential of added value to new green finance models to attract global investment to the area.

Our training supports these ambitions by providing the learning opportunities needed to realise the ambitions.

Benefits to the local area

This project shows not only the potential of working and training in peatlands to deliver a Just Transition with high skilled green jobs, but also the potential of the region to have a big part in it. While it has been delivered in North Highland to date, and in the Flow Country, it has potential to be replicated all over Scotland, if funding was available to support the growth.

Lessons learned

This project has already had a significant impact on the 40+ learners who have completed training and supports NatureScot PEATLAND Action’s objectives. It has also informed development of a longer-term strategy for tertiary learning. This project is unique because it brought together the rich depth of knowledge and research on peatland restoration held across UHI North, West and Hebrides through ERI, along with practical skills and training through its engineering/construction curriculum delivery, creating something completely unique.

Across the courses, we covered everything from the science of how bog breathes to the way in which a digger bucket should be manoeuvred to effectively block a drain on deep peat, from the mapping of a project for Peatland CODE and carbon credit to the surveying of a site for signs of water vole activity. The course is currently free to the participants, thanks to the partnership with NatureScot’s Peatland ACTION – making it both fair and accessible, and opening the sector to completely new learners.

Challenges

Funding continues to be a limiting factor. This project has been made possible thanks to funding from NatureScot PEATLAND ACTION. Staffing capacity to expand the training is also a limiting factor, but this would be possible if funding could be sourced to allow us to recruit additional staff.

Replication and scaling

The project could be scaled up if there was more funding to support staffing and further development. The success of the partnership between UHI North, West and Hebrides and NatureScot confirmed the potential to the college to become a key delivery partner for the national peatland restoration training programme going forward. In time and as confidence in the sector grows from contractors/employers we would envisage that a suitable fee can be charged for these courses which would allow us to retain staff and potentially invest in further programmes, becoming sustainable.  However until there is confidence from employers and contractors we urgently need further investment in this area to support growth.

Working conditions and fair work practices

Featured organisations and initiatives were asked to supply the following information regarding working conditions:

• Alignment with Scottish Government Fair Work First criteria
• If they have gone beyond Fair Work First by incorporating broader values on fair work
• For larger organisations, whether a union recognition agreement is in place.

This did not apply to co-operatives structures and membership-based initiatives, though all projects and initiatives were given room to provide any detail on fair work practices deemed relevant.

The following information was provided:

UHI North West and Hebrides Fair Work Practices Aligned to Scottish Government Goals:

1. Effective Voice

• Trade Union Recognition: The college recognises and works collaboratively with recognised trade unions (e.g., EIS-FELA, Unison) through structured forums like Joint Negotiating Committees.
• Staff Consultation: There are regular staff engagement mechanisms, including cross campus staff meetings at both staff level and department, all staff forums, and staff ambassador groups to inform decision-making.
• Student Representation: Students have formal representation via the Students’ Association and are involved in shaping services and academic policy.

Opportunity

• Equal Pay and Progression: Regular pay reviews are carried out, and the college adheres to national pay bargaining agreements that promote equal pay and career progression.
• Inclusive Recruitment: Recruitment practices are designed to be inclusive, with guaranteed interview schemes for disabled applicants and widening participation policies to support local and underrepresented talent.
• Skills Development: There is a strong emphasis on continuous professional development (CPD), including digital skills training, leadership development, and access to UHI-wide training platforms.

Security

• Job Security: Where possible, permanent contracts are offered. The college limits the use of zero-hours or casual contracts to appropriate circumstances (e.g., specialist lecturers or short-term demand).
• Living Wage Employer: UHI North West and Hebrides pays at least the Real Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, in line with public sector expectations.
• Fair Work First: We comply with Fair Work First principles in procurement and funding applications, a requirement for public sector contracting.

Fulfilment

• Supportive Work Environment: Staff are encouraged to contribute meaningfully to their work through involvement in curriculum development, strategic planning, and local innovation projects
• Career Development: since merger (August 2023) pathways for progression and CPD funding continue to be developed, including support for postgraduate qualifications, leadership programmes, and research opportunities.
• Recognition: Achievement is recognised through appraisal systems, and peer-nominated recognition events for external agencies.

Respect

• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI): Strong EDI policies are in place, with active staff and student networks and compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
• Dignity at Work: A zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment is backed by clear policies and confidential reporting mechanisms.
• Health and Wellbeing: Staff have access to mental health and wellbeing support, including an Employee Assistance Programme, flexible working, and occupational health services.