FEATURE
Future – The jobs bp plans to bring to Teesside will help safeguard the region ’ s industry for coming generations , says Matt .
NZT Power is expected to bring 3,000 peak construction jobs , with a further 1,300 at H2Teesside and 130 jobs once the operations phase begins .
Add around 660 construction jobs and more than 100 operations jobs for HyGreen Teesside and it should prove a massive boost to Teesside ’ s transforming economy .
But according to Matt Sims , it ’ s not just about jobs – what ’ s being proposed will , he says , be vital for this region ’ s industry and help safeguard it for future generations .
He told Tees Business : “ Our belief is that if you bring low-carbon fuel to Teesside , industry will come – there ’ s enough demand .
“ Companies are looking for low-carbon fuel sources and we believe that once you build it and get an established network , it will bring industry to Teesside . And that ’ s setting a framework and foundation for the future .”
But what ’ s so good about Teesside ? Matt , who ’ s no stranger to the area , having previously worked for years at the CATS terminal during his 23-year bp career , said : “ It ’ s quite a heavily clustered area for industry so if you ’ re building a fuel network , everything is close together . Also , it has industry that will struggle to decarbonise without hydrogen and a petrochemicals industry that can use green hydrogen for feedstock .
“ There ’ s lots of land , there ’ s lots of skills and experience in the area and there ’ s also a very large amount of renewable energy coming into the North-East , with
“ Our belief is that if you bring low-carbon fuel to Teesside , industry will come – there ’ s enough demand .”
the energy feeders coming in along the coast .
“ Also , there are issues with land access in some parts of the world . Teesside has some very well-developed industrial estates which are there and available now to purchase land and it makes it really easy to progress . “ Everything lights up for Teesside .” bp has little in the area at the moment , save for an office at Wilton and some Teesside-based employees , but subject to government approvals , that ’ s all about to change .
Matt said : “ We can deliver the projects on budget and on schedule . The only concern is how quickly a government can make a decision . But both the Conservatives and Labour support the projects , so it ’ s not like we ’ re off-message if there ’ s a change of government .” All projects are well advanced technically , with bp having signed a licensing and engineering agreement with Johnson Matthey from Billingham for H2Teesside . bp is also behind a flagship Clean Energy Technician course at Redcar and Cleveland College , where 21 students are being trained for the green , renewable and low-carbon industries of the future .
And investing in skills , says Matt , is crucial . He explains : “ The general skills level in industry in the UK has declined in the last 10 years as people have retired . There ’ s a distinctive skills gap , so we ’ ve been working with local councils , industry and the North East Chamber of Commerce to understand what skills they ’ ll need and how to develop them .
“ We ’ ve taken it for granted for generations that the skills would just be there because the UK has an industrial base . The reality is that industry in general has underinvested in skills . Now you have some pretty massive projects across the north of England that will draw on the same skills pool , which is not as big as it used to be . So , we have to work together to work out how we get people into the industry .
“ We ’ ve given £ 50,000 for the Clean Energy Education Hub and created a scholarship programme and we aim to set up a ‘ skills builder ’ partnership , which is all about identifying the skills we ’ ll need .
“ We ’ re committed to being good local employers . Most of our employees are local but you only do that through training , skills and competencies .”
A £ 19.5m “ green skills fund ” is part of the H2Teesside bid and aims to drive hydrogen skills , reaching up to 5,000 people .
So , does that sort of skills investment show bp ’ s determination to be a big part in Teesside ’ s industrial transformation ?
Matt concludes : “ Watch this space !”
Visit www . bp . com / teesside
The voice of business in the Tees region | 95