TUCA training centre relaunched with new provider 12 Oct 2017

Transport for London (TfL) has signed a five-year contract with Prospects College of Advanced Technology (PROCAT) to run the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) in Ilford, to the east of London in the UK.

Facilities at TUCA include spray concrete lining practise

An event held to re-launch the centre with its new training provider was attended by more than 100 officials from Tideway, TfL, Bombardier, BASF and Crossrail and included workshops that showcased the courses on offer.

New facilities at TUCA include classrooms, workshops, a mock construction tunnel, gantry crane, spray concrete lining practise in specially designed tunnel openings, concrete pump, concrete testing, a laboratory to study tunnelling material, a tunnel mock-up where evacuation simulations take place, and a mock railway.

TUCA was built and established by Crossrail Limited in 2011 at a cost of £13 million with a £5 million contribution from the UK Government Skills Funding Agency to meeting the skills training needs of the Crossrail project and the wider underground construction and tunnelling industries. More than 15,000 contractors and apprentices have trained at the academy and as the Crossrail construction work is now complete, the training facility has transferred to TfL to support future tunnelling and infrastructure projects such as High Speed 2, Thames Tideway, Crossrail 2 and High Speed 3.

`We are really excited to be working with TfL to build on the excellent work that has been done at TUCA since it opened,” said Neil Bates, Principal and CEO at PROCAT. “Our shared vision is that TUCA becomes a national and international centre of excellence for specialist railway engineering, construction and civil engineering industries providing the specialist higher level skills so badly needed to support the UK economy.'

The Academy will form part of a network of 'Centres of Excellence' for training in the transport sector that is being developed by the Department for Transport. These centres will collaborate to improve quality of training and efficiency in the industry.