Training

Training centre opens

by Mark Rowe

The security and risk management contractor Pilgrims Group Limited, has opened a new 45,000 sq ft training centre. Pilgrims Training Academy, based near Redhill, in Surrey, has 13,000 sq ft of office space plus 32,000 sq ft of indoor warehouse space, for classroom training and real-life style scenarios in a mock town being created, like a film set, inside. Corporate safety and security training is aimed at businesses, governments, NGOs and individuals, and for media preparing to deploy to high risk regions.

Pilgrims COO, David Freear, says: “We will be able to run multiple courses simultaneously at the Centre, which has very modern classrooms with 160 inch screen facilities and excellent sound systems. We are currently building a small town within the warehouse with houses, streets, cafés, shops and government buildings, literally anything you would find in an urban environment.”

“We will also be including a major building collapse set to allow clients to test their contingency plans and first aid response abilities. It will all be as realistic as it needs to be, so instead of people having to train twice, once in the field and then in a classroom, we can provide a one-stop shop. It creates an urban environment which is where most people will be sent to work – something that can’t often be replicated in the field. This will enable us to put delegates through various practical scenarios using our in-house team of actors/role players and run them through drills in a way that is much closer to what most people might face in real life situations.”

Already in place is a mocked up village. The company is hosting such courses at the centre as Fastrack HEAT, SAFE and SAFE Plus. The plan is to develop capacity for more courses in a range of subjects, including medical trauma, tactical training for police forces and disaster scenarios, besides standard health and safety and security industry training.

Freear adds: “This facility allows us to put pretty much anything together, such as a 30 vehicle pileup disaster scenario which we did for one of our pharmaceutical clients, as well as a wide range of other incidents that clients may face. Whatever people need, with this new facility we can probably create it for them. We are linking the training into our E-Learning programme and can video the scenarios we create to make them available online both for analysis and for those unable to attend.”

The firm says that the Training Academy represents an investment of around £5 million over the next ten years. “This opening represents a very exciting time of growth for our company and some incredible opportunities,” says Freear.

The Centre is open for business seven days a week and, in the months to come, will offer corporate team building days, conference facilities and activities for children, including Airsoft challenges and Nerf (soft foam weaponry) games, that the wider community can use at weekends. Pilgrims global headquarters remains in Woking, Surrey.

An official opening of the new Centre is planned for early 2015. For more about training courses provided by Pilgrims Group visit: http://www.pilgrimsgroup.com.

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