Helping people to reach new heights has always been the ambition for business duo James Somers and Lance Macmaster.

After all, James’s late dad, Dave Somers, showed them the ropes and that proved the start of their careers.

Now the pair have found themselves in a position to give others a leg up. The founders of Darlington’s Hightech Industrial Access, a firm that delivers rope access services and training to industry, are working with NETA Training to deliver a short programme that’s already getting people into jobs.

“We have always wanted to help people in the area gain employment,” said James.

“I guess it feels like you are doing something good and making a difference.”

The six-week bespoke employer-led programme gives learners the basics to work on a construction site. It incorporates confined spaces training, the safety passport, rigging and lifting, first aid, working at heights, and rope access and comes with a guaranteed interview.

Funded by the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority, the programme can be life-changing for those that find their feet. Though, as James pointed out, working hundreds of metres in the air isn’t going to be for everyone.

Fortunately for Adam Reed, 27, of Ingleby Barwick, he discovered he has a head for heights. The former floor layer got a last-minute place on the NETA course after another delegate dropped out and, for him, it has culminated in a working contract.

He said: “I had never really thought about rope access before. I was trying to put myself through some self-funded courses with the hope of eventually working on the turbines in the renewable field. This came up and I thought I would try it.”

Since completing the programme and being taken on by Hightech as a rope access technician, Adam has experienced a variety of jobs from industrial clearing to helping decommission the old De Wadden schooner at Liverpool’s Cannon Dock.

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Describing the role broadly as a construction worker who works at height, he said: “My first job was at 65 metres. With the heights you don’t know how you are going to get on until you do it.

“Climbing the mast of the ship at the Liverpool dock was, again, something quite different, especially with all the tourists watching.

“It’s not when you look down that’s the problem, it’s when it’s windy or a piece of equipment moves. You have to be composed in yourself, you have to test and check your equipment, and you have trust in your buddy and those working around you.”

Brad Eglington, 24, from Darlington, agreed. He too completed the bespoke employer led programme at NETA’s Redcar and Cleveland College site, with rope access training at Hightech’s training centre on Henson Road, Darlington, and going on to be offered a role with the company.

As a former Royal Air Force Air Cadet, with experience doing aerobatics, he knew he was okay with heights, but when it came to his first job cleaning windows on a 14-floor building in Gateshead, he said: “It was nerve-wracking, to be fair.

“When you are on the course it is a controlled environment and everything is set up, pre-inspected and checked. Going on your first job everything has to be set up from scratch. It’s one of those things that the more you see it happen the less nerve-wracking it becomes.”

But, he added, a few nerves are good, after all, “the most important thing with this job, is to never become complacent.”

Launching their business in 2021, Hightech now has 16 staff members on their books, but working all over the world, James and Lance have much loftier plans, with a long-term goal of employing more than 100 staff.

NETA’s commercial manager Lisa Wells said: “It is incredible to see and hear about the delegates gaining employment through this programme and their experiences in work. It’s fantastic to be working alongside Hightech Industrial Access who continue to work with and support the delegates as they start their new careers, not just helping fill their own skills gaps, but also those of the wider industry.”

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Industry-led training such as this provides workers with the skills they need to benefit from our area’s ongoing transformation into a world-leading centre for the clean, green industries of the future.”