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iKBBI EXCLUSIVE
EXCLUSIVE! iKBBI ANNOUNCES HISTORIC DEAL
Its been an indisputably great year for The Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom & Bathroom Installers; subsequently the first two issues of The Installer magazine were the first to announce ‘breaking news’ stories. You will have noticed that our front cover story carries the most significant and ground-breaking exclusive so far, with the institute announcing its exciting collaboration with a southeast training provider to create the UK’s first iKBBI Centre of Excellence for young apprentices.
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The historic deal will in conjunction with the new tiers of membership (see pages 8 & 9 for more details), create up to one thousand 16-19 year olds, an opportunity to join the iKBBI as apprentice members by Christmas 2015, with an ongoing commitment to grow this number to five thousand by the end of 2017! iKBBI CEO Damian Walters commented by saying: “The south-east pilot will not only link the iKBBI with a fantastic established training provider, but also to one thousand school leavers, interested in a career in construction based trade, within the next three months.” “The south-east pilot will link the iKBBI with, not only a fantastic established training provider, but also to one thousand school leavers, interested in a career in construction based trade, within the next three months.”
Damian continued: “The subject of apprenticeships for our industry should be viewed as a demonstrable challenge, however with a steady, planned approach I’m confident that over time we’ll be the vehicle for new and young talent to join our industry and for those reputable businesses who operate within the sector, a great place to find and entice talent as future assets.”
The initiative will start by inviting 1619 year olds studying at PROCAT, the UK’s first college of advanced technology, to join the iKBBI as apprentice members for free. This will essentially allow the KBB industry to start working with this important group of youngsters via communication, opinion surveying and focus groups.
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... cont The iKBBI will also work closely with the college, which operates over three established campuses in Essex, with a view to developing KBB modules to bolt onto the existing syllabus.
Damian said: “This isn’t about reinventing the wheel. PROCAT has an amazing infrastructure; a dedicated team of inspirational tutors, and a management team with a clear passion for developing young talent. We’ll capitalise on their wealth of education knowledge and experience and support them to produce modules that will add tangible benefits to their own prospectus. Furthermore, we hope that by adding our experience to their team, we’ll help them attract more 16-19 year olds into the college and subsequently into our industry.”
Phil Clark, Head of Faculty – Construction and the Built Environment at PROCAT commented on the initiative: “In such an exciting growth period for the construction industry, promoting and providing specialist opportunities to our students alongside the iKBBI enhances the probability of employment at the end of their study, which has to be our ultimate goal for every student that passes through PROCAT.” Damian concluded by adding: “I would like to add a word of support for Renée Mascari and the KBB NTG who have done a fantastic job creating a living and breathing apprenticeship through training provider WEBS (Nottingham), so the subject of apprenticeships is not entirely new. However, we hope to work with them both to scope opportunities and take this to an even wider audience as a joint initiative. We believe the iKBBI is a great vehicle to take this crucial initiative to the next level.”
