Boatbuilding college ready to go into liquidation

Gerry Skews, from the Excelsior Trust which operates a Lowestoft-built sailing smack, says the college had been a lifeline for the preservation of traditional techniques

An award-winning centre teaching traditional maritime construction skills has closed as it goes into liquidation.

The International Boatbuilding Training College (IBTC) started in Oulton Broad in Suffolk in 1975.

It has confirmed it closed its doors on Friday, with the company being placed into liquidation, 11 staff being made redundant and its assets expected to be sold off next year.

Gerry Skews, a trustee for the Excelsior Trust charity which provides sailing experiences for young and disadvantaged people, said the college had played a vital role in restoring and maintaining its traditional fishing smack and its closure would be "a devastating loss for our region's maritime heritage".

The International Boatbuilding Training College, which started in Oulton Broad nearly 50 years ago, is to close as it goes into liquidation

The college, on Sea Lake Road, said it offered a wide range of traditional boatbuilding and joinery courses together with shorter courses exploring additional woodworking skills and maritime crafts.

Mr Skews said: "For over 30 years, the Excelsior Trust has worked closely with the college. They've helped us to preserve Excelsior's heritage, ensuring she continues to sail and inspire young people. Their craftsmanship has been integral to our success.

"This isn't just about jobs; it's about the disappearance of the last remaining small boatbuilding and ship joinery facility in our region.

"The question is - who will preserve the skills and knowledge needed to care for historic vessels like ours?"

Mr Skews said many IBTC graduates had gone on to work in boatyards across the country and abroad and in September 2023 the college won the Maritime Training and Education Programme Award at the National Maritime Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Awards.

'Failure'

In a statement, regional insolvency and business recovery specialists McTear Williams & Wood said IBTC Limited - the company trading as International Boatbuilding Training College - would "close its doors with effect from 20 December and a meeting of members has been called for that day to place the company into liquidation".

A spokesperson for McTear Williams & Wood said it was being appointed as joint liquidator.

"The current student cohort will leave having been given the opportunity to complete a minimum of the joinery module City & Guilds qualification," they said.

"The directors Lyn and Mike Tupper have been running the company for the last nine years having acquired it for £1 from prior owners and have invested heavily in the business to support it in a difficult market due to less wooden boat building.

"The Tuppers have tried every avenue to seek support from businesses that still use the college's unique skills and had a rescue deal lined up until recently but regrettably, with no prospect of increasing student numbers to turn the college back to profitability, have had to make the difficult decision to close.

"They are the largest creditor."

A social media post by the college confirmed it had closed on Friday and thanked everyone who had been involved in the venture.

"Those of you who have had to close a business will know that the overriding emotion is one of failure," the post said.

"We can be immensely proud to always have done right by the students if not our bank balance!"