Hull College wins £1m Siemens wind turbine factory contract

The £160m wind turbine blade factory in Hull is set to hire 800 staff trained by Hull College Group

A college has been awarded a £1m contract to train staff at a new wind turbine blade factory in Hull.

The £160m Siemens factory at the city's Alexandra Dock is set to open in September 2016, creating 1,000 jobs.

The Hull College Group will spend £400,000 converting an existing site at Preston Road.

All 800 operational staff hired to work at the factory will undergo five weeks of training at the facility, with the first recruits trained from March.

Finbarr Dowling, from Siemens, said: "This training partnership with Hull College Group is a crucial part of our strategy to develop a highly-skilled local workforce for the world-class facilities we are establishing in Hull.

"We are delighted that we will be working with a highly-respected local training provider to equip our new employees with valuable skills and that this training will be delivered in Hull."

The 10-acre (40,000 sq m) blade factory is part of a 133-acre (540,000 sq m) development that includes manufacturing, assembly and servicing factories.

The facility will build 250ft-long (75m) rotor blades designed for 6MW turbines.