Scottish Water
The challenge
A strategic skills gap analysis revealed a need to strengthen project management capabilities within innovation, engineering, and business change teams. This initiative also aimed to address gender imbalance, particularly in engineering and technical teams.
The solution
To address these challenges, Scottish Water turned to QA to support the training of 12 project management apprentices in 2023. This is one part of an overall commitment to apprenticeships by Scottish Water, which has seen the scale of their apprentice programmes increase tenfold over the last 10 years, with one third of apprentices now in promoted roles. They currently have 180 apprentices in roles across Scotland.
“We chose QA through external recommendation and I keep working with them to grow our business because I trust them. Their programmes are thoughtfully designed, their instructors and assessors enhance our apprentices’ knowledge and capability”
Gillian McFarlane
Technical & Vocational Skills Academy Manager, Scottish Water
The result
Scottish Water has seen the gender imbalance improve, with females now 25% of the intake. In addition, apprentices are taking on real Scottish Water challenges:
- Lewis Ebbs is leading the Intelligent Water Network pilot to improve water quality through the deployment of technology.
- Zac Mooney led a complex aspect of one of Scottish Water's hydro projects.
- Cameron Clark worked on the installation of 1,100 solar panels near Falkirk. Thanks to his diligence, the scheme now generates 0.64 GWh each year, cutting 84 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Interested in upskilling your workforce? Explore our apprenticeship programmes.