Learning Partners

Portview works with its parent charity, the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre, and with local and international partners to broaden access to training, technology and ideas.

For Learning

Our parent charity: BURC

Portview is owned by the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre (BURC), a Northern Ireland charity set up in 1984 to provide support, education, training and facilities for people affected by unemployment and social and economic disadvantage. BDA manages and maintains the site as a non-profit social enterprise. Its income is reinvested in the buildings, and its surplus supports BURC’s charitable work.

BURC’s work includes welfare rights advice, free English classes for refugees, asylum seekers and other newcomers, community leadership training and support for people looking for work. In 2023/24, its online English classes averaged 130 to 150 learners per eight-week module, from more than 25 nationalities.

BURC also brings skills programmes to Portview. With support from the International Fund for Ireland, BURC and FIT have led advanced manufacturing projects hosted at Portview, working with Louth and Meath Education and Training Board. These include the Advanced Manufacturing Pathways Schools Project and Empowering Futures, a 12-month traineeship for 17 to 25-year-olds from Belfast.

For Learning

Shared ambition

Portview does not aim to become a training provider in its own right. Instead, we work with recognised education, training and industry partners, using our spaces, relationships and business community to open up opportunities for people in East Belfast.

Fastrack into Information Technology (FIT) is based at Portview in Unit B3, a purpose-built 2,000 sq ft training facility where it delivers courses for a range of partners, including Belfast City Council and Belfast Metropolitan College, and works with employers such as Allstate and Citi through its employment academies. An industry-led, not-for-profit organisation founded in 1999, FIT helps people into technology careers through practical training in areas such as software development, cybersecurity and networking.

In 2023, Portview signed a memorandum of understanding with the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence (AMTCE) in Dundalk. Run by Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, AMTCE offers specialist training in robotics, 3D printing, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing. Together, the partners’ Shared Island bid for an advanced manufacturing and technology learning facility in East Belfast remains live.

Alongside Catalyst Connection in Pittsburgh, these partners link East Belfast to educators and industry across the island of Ireland and the Atlantic. The long-term ambition is a place of curiosity, experimentation and learning that connects people with the skills and industries shaping the future.

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Partnership in practice

Learning in action at Portview

See how our partners have brought training, technology and new ideas into the Mill.

Our learning partners

FIT logo

FIT

Fastrack into Information Technology (FIT) Established in 1999, FIT is dedicated to addressing the skills requirements of Ireland’s increasingly digitalised economy. Promoting inclusion and diversity FIT consistently demonstrates that wider access to tech skills training leads to exciting career paths and quality employment opportunities for all those who have a curiosity and passion for technology.

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AMTCE logo

AMTCE

The Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence (AMTCE) is Ireland’s leading specialist training facility dedicated to upskilling and reskilling the workforce for the Industry 4.0 transition. Located in the Xerox Technology Park in Dundalk, Co. Louth, it was established by the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB). Backed by over €62 million in total state and agency investment, its high-tech, 55,000 sq. foot campus formally opened its doors in March 2025. Key Objectives - Bridge the Skills Gap: Equips workers with the technical competencies needed to pivot from traditional knowledge-based manufacturing to modern, data-driven operations. - Support Target Sectors: Offers specialised training across manufacturing, engineering and construction. - Provide Pathways: Creates new career pipelines through formal traineeships, QQI-certified qualifications, and Ireland’s first All-Ireland Robotics and Automation apprenticeship.

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