A £1M fire training centre for offshore oil rig workers opened at Newcastle International Airport today (Thursday, 30 May).

The new facility means that trainees can now be complete all of their courses in Newcastle in just 30 days, making it the only city in the country to offer such a service. Previously students would have to go to Aberdeen to complete the fire part of the course.

Craig Lowden, 30, is an offshore wind turbine worker who trained at Newcastle. He said: “I used to work on Tyneside in a factory using machines and I just decided I wanted something different. The training centre was behind my factory so that’s why I started thinking about it.

“I funded myself through all the training which cost about £6,000 but now I’m earning between £40,000 and £60,000 this year. I’ve basically doubled my salary.

“I would say to anybody who wants to do something a bit different just go and do it. You’ve got to want it but I have no regrets whatsoever.”

The prestigious new centre hopes to attract 6,000 trainees each year from all over the world including the Middle East. It was created over 18 months by Offshore Training Newcastle (OTN), a partnership of three training organisations from the North East: AIS, Newcastle International Airport and Maersk Training.

Richard Knight, operations director at Newcastle International, said: “We wanted to create a hub for offshore training in one place and the airport offers the ideal site, especially for attracting candidates from overseas.”

OTN is hoping to expand its specialist service within three years to cope with more trainees and may create some permanent jobs in the process. It is also working with the MoD to train up to 6,500 ex-army engineers after they leave the service over the next few years.

Lorraine Boorman, managing director of industry skills body OPITO, said: “As an industry we have a massive skills shortage, demand far outweighs supply so we are always looking for trainees.

“In the coming years 20,000 soldiers are due to leave the army and I think we as an industry can take about a third of them into a training programme.

“To date 100 per cent of the army personnel we have take on have gone into a job.”