Durham training firm expands into South Yorkshire following string of contract wins

KF Training has expanded into South Yorkshire after winning several new contracts in the region.

Headquartered in County Durham, the training firm has experienced continued growth since launching in 2011, with the opening of two more outlets in the North East as work demand increased.

Now, KT has secured deals with a number of South Yorkshire firms and is in the process of recruiting staff to service the extra workload.

One contract win is with Sheffield-based stainless steelmaker Outokumpu, which is putting many of its first line supervisors through KF Training’s leadership and management programme. The programme will eventually be rolled out to 113 staff in Sheffield.

Barbara Ayres, HR manager at Outokumpu, said: “We are continually looking at ways of improving the skills base of our employees in our business and we highlighted a training need within our first line supervisory team. As a result of our partnership with KF Training, more than 100 of our people will get an opportunity to learn special techniques that will help them develop and improve the performance of their respective teams.

“This will be vital as we look to succeed in an ever more competitive environment in the stainless steel and advanced materials markets.”

KF Training delivers skills programmes and consultancy services across the North of England. Headquartered in Peterlee, County Durham, business was launched in 2011 by managing director Kelly Lee and now employs 52 people.

Sara O’Brien, commercial director at KF Training, commented: “Our partnership with Outokumpu is one of several contract wins for us in Yorkshire, which is a key part of our growth strategy.

“We discovered that this part of the country has a range of training needs in key growth sectors including advanced manufacturing, healthcare technologies, creative and digital, life sciences and low-carbon technologies.

“We are currently recruiting staff who can help us achieve our goal of building our presence in Yorkshire.”