Celebrating its 50th anniversary of delivering industry leading training, British Gypsum has announced that it will further enhance its support for apprentices in the UK by expanding its innovative Thistle Partnership to include an additional six colleges nationally. This takes the total number of colleges involved in the initiative to 75.
First established in 2013, the Thistle Partnership sees British Gypsum work with further education colleges across the UK to strengthen training courses and give better access to the latest products, resources and industry expertise. Since its launch, the Partnership has already helped in excess of 12,000 students, and donated enough plasterboard to fit the length of 645 football pitches.
Dave Hall, Technical Academy Manager at British Gypsum, commented: “According to a recent report by CITB[1], an additional 1,500 plasterers are needed each year to meet the demands from the construction industry in 2020. As a company, we’re committed to increasing the number of skilled plasterers coming into the industry by helping even more apprentices complete formal levels of training.
“This is why in our 50th anniversary, and following the success of our Thistle Partnership, we’ve decided to increase the network of colleges we support from 69 to 75.”
The Thistle Partnership also includes the Learning Hub, an online resource designed to support the next generation of plasterers. It offers college lecturers and apprentices exclusive access to training courses and a number of useful learning resources – as well as giving students the chance to upload and share images of their own work.
For more information on the Learning Hub, visit www.british-gypsum.com/technical-advice/learning-hub or contact 0844 561 8810.