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 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 in Great Britain and globally.
The event, organised by the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and hosted by Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock (pictured, below), brought together industry leaders, as well as the rising stars of tomorrow, for a celebration of excellence in training and development in the ECI.
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 (pictured, main) 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.
Celebrating excellence in delivery of ECITB-approved training
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.”
Regional winners honoured at ECI Awards
The two other regional winners (pictured) were also present to pick up their trophies at the ECI Awards.
Solid Rock Life and Business, the East Africa and Rest of World winner, is a global management consultancy and capacity building organisation.
It has provided ECITB vocational training and technical testing in Uganda since 2019 in electrical installation and maintenance, welding, rigging and scaffolding, while also delivering ECITB Global’s International Health and Safety Passport.
In particular, the judges recognised Solid Rock for being at the forefront of delivering this training into the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline Project this year.
Technology of Petroleum Services (TPS), meanwhile, was the Middle East and Caspian region winner for its work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where it provides tools, workforce services and consultancy to the oil and gas and petrochemical industries.
Having operated in Dammam now for 17 years, TPS is heavily involved in pipeline construction projects. It was praised for the quality of its training and for championing the ECITB in the country, having first approached ECITB Global in 2023 with a view to offering internationally accredited MJI training and testing to augment its torquing and bolting tool sales.
'ECI Awards finalists set standards to which we all aspire'
ECITB Chief Executive Andrew Hockey said: “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, Solid Rock and TPS, as well as 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.”
