Booming hydrogen specialist ITM Power invests in apprentices to keep pace with growth in Sheffield

A Sheffield hydrogen firm with plans to build two factories is investing heavily in apprentices to keep pace with phenomenal growth.

Published 7th Mar 2022, 11:08 BST

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ITM Power, which has 11 apprentices and trainees, has committed to recruiting a further 20 this year.

It is broadening the scope from engineering to areas including health and safety, marketing, logistics, legal, quality, design and procurement

The firm is also training four experiences employees to work as enterprise advisers in South Yorkshire schools to develop careers strategies with a focus on local employers.

From left: Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Yvonne Baker OBE, chief executive, STEM Learning and Dr Rachel Smith, services director, ITM Power
Pic: Shaun Flannery — From left: Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Yvonne Baker OBE, chief executive, STEM Learning and Dr Rachel Smith, services director, ITM Power Pic: Shaun Flannery

From left: Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Yvonne Baker OBE, chief executive, STEM Learning and Dr Rachel Smith, services director, ITM Power
Pic: Shaun Flannery — From left: Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Yvonne Baker OBE, chief executive, STEM Learning and Dr Rachel Smith, services director, ITM Power Pic: Shaun Flannery

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And it has signed up as a ‘cornerstone employer’ feeding into the South Yorkshire Combined Authority’s skills advisory network.

The firm’s work attracted the attention of Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge and chair of not-for-profit STEM Learning, the largest provider of STEM education and careers support in the UK.

It has been tasked by government with ‘transforming attainment and aspiration’ in those subjects in schools.

ITM Power apprentices jumping for joy, from left: Charlie Harding, Shane Terby George, George Ashton, Dominic Lambert, Marcus Bradley, Joseph Woodhead, James Eaton and Karyce Hayward © Shaun Flannery

ITM Power apprentices jumping for joy, from left: Charlie Harding, Shane Terby George, George Ashton, Dominic Lambert, Marcus Bradley, Joseph Woodhead, James Eaton and Karyce Hayward © Shaun Flannery

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She visited ITM Power’s Gigafactory in Tinsley to discuss the issues and met chief executive Dr Graham Cooley, services director Dr Rachel Smith, academy manager Lee Firth, enterprise advisers and STEM ambassadors.

ITM Power makes electrolysers that split water to create hydrogen, a carbon-free fuel that can be burned in cars, homes and in industry.

In November, the company announced plans for a second UK factory costing £55m on the runway of the former Sheffield Airport in Tinsley, which it bought from the University of Sheffield for £13.4m. It is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2023.

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A third and even bigger factory in an as yet unnamed country is set to open by the end of 2024.

In January, it said it had more than 350 full-time employees and expects to hire another 100 ‘as the scale of operations increases’.Half-year results for the six months to October 31 show it made a loss of £12.9m, slightly larger than the £10.4m it lost in the same period the year before.

But it has a ‘backlog and pipeline’ of work valued at £473m - 16 per cent up - and £390m cash in the bank after fundraises, including £242m in November.

Longspur Research predicts annual sales will soar 100-fold from £4.3m in 2021 to £403m by 2025.

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