Wigan firm wins SME award at event to honour brightest and best in industry
A Wigan-based company is celebrating after being recognised for its contribution to industry at the 13th annual Engineering Construction Industry (ECI) Training and Development Awards in London.
The Herne Group, a project consultancy in the nuclear sector, received the Small/Medium Employer (SME) of the Year award at a prestigious ceremony at Glaziers Hall to honour the very best of engineering construction talent.
The event, organised by the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and hosted by Dr Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock, brought together industry leaders, as well as the rising stars of tomorrow, for a celebration of excellence in training and development in the ECI.
A year after one of its employees, Lewis White, won the prize for apprentice of the year at the 2024 event, Herne Group scooped the SME award after demonstrating “exceptional commitment to learning and development” in the last 12 months.
Judges recognised the company’s commitment to developing talent through training, mentoring and hands-on project experience.
In particular, the company was praised for its “agility, personal approach and proven success” in the career development of young professionals.
This has included measures it has taken to overcome barriers faced as an SME in the highly regulated nuclear sector. With security clearances and limited access to client projects restricting opportunities for new entrants, Herne Group created internal scenario-based training using real, but desensitised project data.
Alongside structured mentoring to give learners hands-on skills ahead of going on client placements, the company places apprentices on projects at no cost to clients to help accelerate their confidence and capability.
Mike Preston, Director at the Herne Group, was handed the trophy by award category sponsor NUVIA. Reacting to the award, he said: “It feels great.
“Lewis’ success last year gave us, as a company, that belief in ourselves and the way that we do business, the way that we train our new entrants and all our staff.
“As the company has grown, we’ve been able to support projects in a different way, which has allowed us to bring our new entrants on quicker. The length of time it took us to develop our first apprentice to now is a lot faster thanks to using the ECITB, the training available to us and the qualifications they can gain.
“At the same time, we can get them in front of our clients, we can get them supporting on projects and that just gives them hands-on experience nice and early.
“Around a year ago, we created some scenario-based training that replicates the projects we have worked on. We made sure that all our new entrants carry out a number of months of training on that. They build a work breakdown structure (WBS), develop a schedule, and work through risks and progress updates, giving them a flavour of the work planners do on projects. That’s really worked well.”
A judging panel of industry representatives – made up of Tracey Shelley (BCECA), John Simpson (ECIA), Mark Riley (Phillips 66 Limited), Steve Hunt (Altrad) and Helen Woodward Davies (EDF Energy) – picked the overall winners based on the significant contributions they have made both to the ECI and their own organisations.
The ECI spans sectors that focus on the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of heavy industry, including oil and gas, nuclear, power generation, renewables, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, chemicals, food and drink, pharmaceuticals and water treatment.
ECITB Chief Executive Andrew Hockey said: “Congratulations to Herne Group and to all the winners and finalists, who are great examples of the success stories in industry over the past year and set standards to which we all aspire.”
See the full list of winners from the ECI Training & Development Awards 2025 at www.ecitb.org.uk/eci-training-development-awards-2025/