ECIA membership has netted prestigious projects for NRL

ECIA membership has netted prestigious projects for NRL

Recruitment company NRL are now deep into their fourth year as an employment business member of the Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA), and the decision to go down this route has proved wise, due to the major engineering construction projects to which NRL have been able to supply people as a result.

The ECIA divisions at NRL Egremont, Washington and Wigan are all currently supplying to sites such as Sellafield, and the Pembroke CCGT new build power station.

Personnel placed at the various sites include charge hands, electricians, riggers, welders, slingers, pipefitters, tractor drivers, forklift truck and telehandler drivers, storemen, mates and labourers. At Pembroke, for example, around 40 workers were provided at any time.

Another major project for NRL in the last year was Staythorpe Power Station in Nottinghamshire where the company supplied approximately 60 workers, including charge hands, electricians, pipefitters, mates and labourers.

All the projects to which NRL’s ECIA divisions supplied workers are what are known as ‘blue book sites’, which means they are governed by the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI). Recruitment companies are not permitted to supply agency workers to these sites but can only supply employees; being an ECIA employment business member enables NRL to employ people in their own right who can then be deployed to work at such sites.

Clients have been able to take advantage of the experienced and mobile workforce employed by NRL, even on NAECI sites. NRL also help foster industrial relations by having an onsite presence and liaising between clients and union representatives. 

Says Gillian Gomersall, director at NRL Washington: “The ECIA membership was a significant step to take but it has proved extremely worthwhile. Sites which would have been closed to us have instead presented many opportunities, and we’re pleased to have been instrumental in giving many people work and in contributing to some very successful engineering projects.”