Our history

We began a 30-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Ministry of Defence as part of the Holdfast Training Services (HTS) consortium to modernise training and training management for the Royal Engineers. Prior to our involvement, the trainee pass rate was around 84%, trainee satisfaction less than 75% and less than 50% of our trainers were qualified to level 5 in teaching.

We quickly adopted the Defence Systems Approach to Training (DSAT) and initiated a training transformation for the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) including investment in learning technology, updated course structure and content, and student-centred trainer development[P.

We won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for providing innovative engineering and construction training for the British Army, producing a major contribution to the local economy.

We signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant voluntary pledge to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces and demonstrate support for the Armed Forces community.

We won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, and both City and Guilds Centre of the Year and Instructor of the Year.

The next phase of our ongoing training transformation got underway, including eLearning, TEL and accelerated learning with Fixed Mastery Variable Timing (FMVT) – where experienced learners and those most adept have the opportunity to complete their training faster, and so return to their unit sooner.

As part of our commitment to accessible learning, we introduced 56 online training resources for the City & Guilds SmartScreen learning platform. Nine years into the PPP contract, improvements were clear – the trainee pass rate was 95% and satisfaction 97%, we had reduced total training time by 20%.

When COVID-19 lockdown was initiated, we rapidly rolled out remote learning with only 3 days’ disruption to training. In support of the national effort, we continued to train the Royal Engineers. We also offered training to soldiers tasked with constructing the Nightingale hospital in London. In addition, roadgoing vehicles were adapted for use as mobile vaccination vehicles by our Fabrication programme area. 

We won several prestigious awards: the Princess Royal Training Award for our innovative Early Careers development  scheme; Gold in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme linked to the Royal Forces Covenant; and the [PC3.1]Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers Happold Brilliant Award; our students won the Chartered Institute of Building  Challenge; and we were recognised in the Kent Employer of the Year awards.

We launched our Defence Growth business unit to apply our expertise and explore how we could support wider defence, adjacent sectors with innovative learning and training solutions. 

In recognition of our world-leading health and safety practice, we won not only our 14th[PC4.1] consecutive RoSPA Gold Award but the RoSPA President’s Award winner too.

And at the halfway mark of our RSME contract, we had delivered significant results: 100% attributable pass rate; 100% overall trainee satisfaction; 

3990 training days saved; 0 KPI financial penalties; all trainers qualified to a minimum level 5 teaching standard.

We won our 15^th consecutive RoSPA Gold Award. As a Princess Royal Award Alumni, we’re supporting other organisations on their quest for awards.

Looking ahead, we’re motivated by the opportunity to help our clients solve their training challenges, and make faster progress to operational readiness.