BMI UK & Ireland
has relaunched its National Training Centre as the BMI Academy.
The UK’s first ever
dedicated roof training centre, the BMI Academy – now a multi-site operation,
with its hub in South Cerney, Gloucestershire – offers best-in-class training
and comprises possibly the most comprehensive learning resource in the country.
Not content with
just being the UK’s first dedicated roof training centre, the BMI Academy looks
forward to many more firsts as it aligns with the other training academies
across BMI Group’s global operations.
As a BMI Academy,
the National Training Centre looks forward to delivering improved standards of
training through the strength of the company’s global training service and the
introduction of new technology and techniques – such as the recently developed
e-learning and live stream workshops.
Supporting
stakeholders across the construction industry, the BMI Academy delivers
training to architects, contractors, housebuilders, merchants and public
authorities for both pitched and flat roofing. The aim is to provide a high
level of collaboration with specification and site professionals – improving
standards, understanding, and the use of new technologies and techniques.
With an
industry-leading mix of theory and practical courses, from RIBA-approved CPDs
to installation and estimating courses, the BMI Academy offers the chance to
develop and improve either knowledge or skills to those in the roofing sector
at all levels.
For medium to large
size firms, bespoke and mobile training services are available on demand
meaning that BMI is able to tailor courses to suit the company’s specific needs
and run them either at their sites in Gloucester and Manchester, or at the
company’s own location.
As the drive to
recruit more young people and professionalise the roofing sector continues, the
BMI Academy also works in education to support those studying towards a
qualified status.
Colleges and roof
training groups ensure that the next generation of roofers join the trade with
the required skill sets and practical experience, and the BMI Academy seeks to
share its expertise with these learners through its college engagement programme
– providing product and delivering training for new systems. It also brings
together the UK’s roofing tutors at regular forums to discuss important
subjects, such as common qualification revisions and changes to British
Standards.
The company employs
three full-time dedicated pitched and flat roofing trainers and delivers
approximately 60 hours of training every week. Since opening in 1983, over
45,000 delegates have been trained at the centre – with 2,000 visitors being
hosted in 2018 alone.
Mat Woodyatt, BMI
Technical Training Manager, explains how the company’s commitment to training
dovetails with its approach to customer needs and service: “By providing
comprehensive and quality training in industry-leading facilities, we strive to
serve both our customers and the sector as a whole; and this philosophy applies
worldwide across the Group, hence the shift to being an Academy – reflecting
our drive to be a centre of excellence – along with our other co-facilities in
the business”.
Mat continues: “By
developing and maintaining a skills base, we can help to ensure that roofing
flourishes as a sector – and also achieve the high-quality design, installation
and workmanship which the sector strives to deliver”.
