The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) has appointed three new Regional Chairs for the East of England, South/EDP* and North West England.
Stewart Maxwell, Technical Director at Aquaterra Energy, is now the Regional Chair for the East of England. Tom Ventre of Laker Vent Engineering is the new Regional Chair for North West England. And Seán McKirdy of RB Plant is the Regional Chair for the South and EDP* companies.
Regional Chairs ensure the needs of employers in that region are represented in decisions around skills and workforce development programmes and enable the ECITB to forge closer connections to businesses in those regions.
“We need to widen the funnel”
Originally from Glasgow in Scotland, Stewart Maxwell has lived in East Anglia for around 30 years after graduating in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Aberdeen.
He has had a long and successful career within the global oil and gas industry during this time, holding positions in Asia Pacific and the UK within consultancies, service providers and operators.
He joined Aquaterra Energy in 2013 as Technical Director and has a pan-company remit to drive technical innovations, ensure all work complies with guidelines and develop the next generation of engineers.
On his appointment to Regional Chair for the East of England: “I have always had an interest in skills development and held unofficial mentoring roles where I recruited and helped train engineers.
“The East of England is an important area to the country as a whole. People don’t necessarily appreciate this. As well as agriculture, for which it is known, it has always had an engineering base. This is a strong industrial heartland with oil and gas, nuclear and now seeing real growth in renewables.
“But we have seen a drop off in graduates coming into the industry. We need to enhance and develop trade-level skills across the region and widen the funnel to get people from all backgrounds into the industry.
“There is a great deal of work happening in STEM engagement and encouraging women into engineering. The industry needs to work together on this. I want to engage with employers across the region to better understand their needs and forge that closer collaboration.”
“I am passionate to be involved and be part of the solution.”
Tom Ventre, Managing Director of Laker Vent Engineering, is following in his father’s footsteps, having taken over the position of ECITB Regional Chair of North West England from his father, Paul Ventre, who held the post for seven years.
Tom joined the family business, Laker Vent Engineering, in 2000 after completing A-levels and began a project engineering training programme alongside a BTEC and HNC in mechanical engineering. After ten years of work on various projects throughout the UK, he progressed to Project Manager in 2010 before heading up the business operations in 2018 as Operations Manager and Operations Director and taking over as MD earlier this year.
Laker Vent has provided piping and mechanical services across a range of industries for more than 60 years.
Tom said: “The restriction on growth is often the ability to secure well-trained, competent workers. This is a common theme across the engineering construction industry and one we have experienced here at Laker Vent.
“The priority must be to both increase the labour pool and ensure we retain workers. We need to look at upskilling and encourage workers to stay in the industry. Show them that there are huge opportunities in this region – particularly with the upcoming projects for net zero and HyNet.
“And we need to do this collaboratively with other companies across the region rather than seeing each other as just competitors.
“Regional Chairs are tasked with bringing industry together to resolve the hurdles we face now and on the horizon. What better way to try to resolve this as to contribute to the solution? I am passionate to be involved and be part of the solution.”
“Apprenticeships are key to driving the workforce growth.”
Seán has over 20 years industry experience working in various roles (including project management) within multidisciplinary teams. He started his career in 2003 as an indentured apprentice mechanical services engineer and has worked within the rail safety, oil & gas and metals industries.
He joined RB Plant Construction in January 2017 as Senior Projects Mechanical Engineer and became Mechanical Engineering Director in 2018.
He believes apprenticeships are key to driving the workforce growth needed to meet demand for future projects.
He said: “We have an excellent graduate programme here at RB Plant but we are finding that the pool of high-calibre graduates is getting smaller each year. Engineering companies are all competing for good calibre graduates – and it’s the same across Europe.
“In addition, senior managers who have followed an apprenticeship route tend to have a broader understanding and more practical knowledge on the physical aspects of the job, such as welding or maintaining equipment.
“We are looking to start a new apprenticeship programme at RB Plant to drive the next generation of engineers. We have also visited Richmond College to meet some of the ECITB Design and Draughting scholars. The scholarship programme creates a good pipeline of new talent to industry.
“We need stronger engagement across the industry to showcase engineering as an exciting and rewarding career option – and this effort must begin at an earlier age.
“To achieve this, it is crucial to embed engineering and technology within the school curriculum. At present, too many schools lack these opportunities, limiting young people’s awareness of the potential career paths available to them.
“RB Plant has striven to do this through encouraging our engineers to actively engage in STEM activities and initiatives such as Innov8.”
Seán takes over as Regional Chair of the merged South/EDP* region from Gerald Mulvany of Bechtel Energy who served as Regional Chair South since 2023 and Steve Blackman from Schlumberger who held the Regional Chair role for EDP companies since 2018.
ECITB Chief Executive, Andrew Hockey, said: “I am delighted to welcome these three industry leaders as both members of the ECITB Council and Regional Chairs.
“Their experience and passion will be a massive asset to drive forward the skills agenda in these regions, building better connections with client and contractor companies across the regions and being part of the solutions to overcome skills gaps.
“Forging these close links with industry, through the ECITB’s Board, Council and regional fora, is the cornerstone of how the ECITB operates to ensure we understand the needs of employers across the ECI and determinedly work to meet these needs.
“I would like to take the opportunity to thank our previous Regional Chairs Paul Ventre, Gerald Mulvany and Steve Blackman for their contributions during their tenures.”
*Engineering, Design and Procurement (EDP) – these are in-scope companies whose head office is in the UK but who don’t employ site-based staff.
Find out more
Full profile details
About Aquaterra Energy
Aquaterra Energy specialises in providing equipment and solutions to the global offshore energy industry – helping clients drive efficient and sustainable offshore operations from drilling and field development, to decommissioning, carbon capture and storage, wind, and hydrogen projects.
About Laker Vent Engineering
Laker Vent Engineering is a major mechanical piping contractor specialising in detail design, fabrication and installation of process plant and pipe work within the power, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
Its manufacturing workshops in Cheshire allow Laker Vent to prefabricate pipework installation projects to the highest specification before the team completes installation on site – reducing site hours, costs and unnecessary disruption to customers.
About RB Plant
RB Plant provides the full range of design and construction engineering services to the process industries and is part of the RB Group, which was founded in 1969. RB Group provides professional engineering consultancy, design, project and construction management services across a wide range of sectors from pharmaceuticals to heavy engineering.
