• Home
  • News
  • Centre of Excellence is Coming to Hawke’s Bay

Centre of Excellence is Coming to Hawke’s Bay

November 22, 2011

Unison has recently sealed a partnership with the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) to bring a Centre of Excellence to Hawke’s Bay.

The contract marks the launch of a build to establish a Unison faculty at EIT. Expected to be completed before Christmas, the Centre will include a workshop area, classrooms and an outside arena to accommodate real-life working environments.

Unison Chief Executive Officer, Ken Sutherland said the Company was confident that partnering with EIT provided the skills, competencies and experience required for its future business sustainability, and that Unison Contracting Services would be the main user of the Centre.

“Unison is moving into new fields with our smart network roll-out, migration in to the telecommunications sector with our superior fibre network, and the commitment to sell a range of services to third party customers. This means that investment in our employees’ development is critical.

“Safety always comes first, and that will remain the primary focus of our training. But we now need to future-proof our business and our people, and that means we need to invest in other programmes,” he said.

The Centre would focus on training and development for Unison staff, but it was intended the Centre would have wider community benefits, he said.

“We expect other businesses will sign up for some of our programmes in the future, cementing our decision to bring this expertise to the Bay, and to establish a Centre whereby it is available.”

EIT’s Chief Executive Officer, Chris Collins said EIT had been very open to the concept because it was aligned with their vision to provide educational opportunities for local people and local businesses.

“It is great that EIT and Unison – both large and reputable organisations within the community – have come together with a single vision to provide good learning opportunities,” he said.