Northumberland company recognised for its global impact at prestigious industry awards
Hydratight is celebrating after being recognised for its contribution to industry on the global stage at the 13th annual Engineering Construction Industry (ECI) Training and Development Awards in London.
The company, which has a UK base in Cramlington, Northumberland, received the International Training Organisation of the Year award for the second year running 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 Maggie Aderin-Pocock, brought together industry leaders, as well as the rising stars of tomorrow, for a celebration of excellence in training and development.
Hydratight, which won the overall accolade in 2024 for its work in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, had already been announced as the Central Asia & Asia Pacific regional winner two months earlier for its work in Singapore.
It was handed the overall title at the ceremony by award category sponsor, KBR, after seeing off competition from two other regional champions – Technology of Petroleum Services (TPS) from Saudi Arabia and Solid Rock Life and Business of Uganda.
The International Training Provider of the Year award acknowledges and celebrates excellence in the delivery of ECITB-approved training, products and services in key ECI skills and health and safety programmes by an ECITB Global licensed provider.
Hydratight, which delivers specialist mechanical services to asset owners in the oil and gas, power generation and industrial sectors, was recognised for collaborating with the ECITB to enhance the industry’s Mechanical Joint Integrity (MJI) training standards and courses.
Having worked with the ECITB in the UK for over 30 years and licensed to deliver MJI and onsite machining training and testing overseas for over a decade, Hydratight was praised by judges for “yet again being one of the stand-out training providers overseas this year”.
Jason Barnard, Global Technical Competency Leader at Hydratight, which delivers its services and training on five continents, said: “We won this award last year and so to win two years in a row is a massive achievement for all of our training team that deliver this.
“We won this year for Asia Pacific and we do a lot in the region, but this is just as much about recognising the work we do in other areas around the world like the Middle East.
“One of the key things for us this year is the massive growth we’ve seen in MJI e-learning internationally. I think the next step for us is to really focus on the technical testing side of things.”
ECITB Chief Executive Andrew Hockey added: “As the industry-led skills body for engineering construction, we are committed to developing the skills needed for the delivery of critical infrastructure projects.
“We spoke of this commitment when launching our new strategy, Leading Industry Learning, back in September and how achieving our goals will require collaboration and commitment well beyond the ECITB alone.
“It fills me with great hope, therefore, to see this commitment to skills development showcased throughout industry, in Great Britain and globally, in the inspiring entries we received this year for the awards.
“Congratulations to Hydratight and all our other winners and finalists, who are great examples of these success stories over the past year and set standards to which we all aspire.”