E.ON switches on the skills supply in partnership deal with Skills Street

Global energy provider becomes ‘Skills Investor’ to drive forward a skills and legacy activity across South Yorkshire.

Energy provider E.ON has announced plans to develop an interactive learning zone at Skills Street, South Yorkshire’s innovative learning centre, which is set to open in 2025 on the site of Gulliver’s theme park in Rotherham.  

E.ON will work with the Community Interest Company to build on its planned investment to double the size of its district heating network in Sheffield, connecting new customers and potentially tap new sources of low carbon heating that might otherwise go to waste.

The district heating scheme in the Lower Don Valley is currently powered by E.ON’s Blackburn Meadows renewable energy plant which uses biomass to provide a source of heating to connected buildings in the Lower Don Valley. E.ON’s planned investment will help to decarbonise the region and could also bring a host of skills and training opportunities for local people, with Skills Street offering support for people to explore job pathways and practical learning from early years and primary stages into secondary, further and higher education. 

Skills Street is an immersive and innovative careers learning experience developed by co-founders Gulliver’s Theme Parks and The Workwise Foundation, aiming to inform children, young people and adults about job pathways, training and careers.

The venue will develop a multi-disciplinary immersive experience that brings sectors and industry to life. Skills Street expects to welcome 16,000 school aged students each year, while activities will be accessible to the general public, community groups and leisure visitors.

James Beighton, Skills Street Development Manager, said: “I am delighted to be working with E.ON as our latest Skills Investor partner. We operate in a region where manufacturing and industrial heritage is our identity. To have the voice of E.ON to help shape the next generation of talent, whether that’s engineering and technical talent or giving context and meaning to green careers and climate action, we have a unique opportunity here to inspire a workforce that will secure our future on so many fronts. A perfect example of immediate and localised skills needs meeting national priorities across a crucial industry sector for our national economy.”

The Skills Street partnership will enable E.ON to develop a bespoke ‘taste of industry’ branded space designed to showcase the breadth of opportunities across the company and the energy sector as a whole. E.ON will collaborate with Skills Street to deliver hands-on, skills focused sessions that help learners from 5-16 years old to apply subject areas to industry activity and take learning beyond the classroom.

E.ON Social Value and Skills Lead, Angela Beanlands said: “Our recently announced plans to expand the route of our district heat network support Sheffield’s bold steps to become a zero-carbon city by 2030. To do that we’ll be looking to create more than 2,000 green jobs and we’re hoping our work with Skills Street helps us and helps the people of South Yorkshire to develop the skills and the training we all need to get the most out of this huge investment in the city.”

Skills Street will help build on post-16 education pathways, building on E.ON’s commitment to training and staff development.

Find out more about Skills Street as we work towards a game changer for practical skills development for South Yorkshire and beyond – https://skills-street.co.uk/

Keep up to date with E.ON activity and investment in local partnerships here, starting with innovative Heat Zone activity in Yorkshire and London here – Blackburn Meadows Biomass Power Plant (eonenergy.com)