Distinguishing your company from competitors can be a challenge, especially now tradespeople can easily enrol on courses to give their business that defining edge. But often, these courses fail to strike a crucial balance between time onsite and time in the classroom, meaning that participants walk away with less practical know how than they had originally hoped.
Fortunately enough Baumit, leading experts in external wall insulation and façade systems, offer exceptional courses tiered at bronze, silver and gold level. Designed to educate participants on a broad range of EWI installations and practices, these courses provide vital theoretical and practical experience in façade systems, creating an essential balance between the two.
A true success since opening in February 2018, Ben Warren, Managing Director at Baumit, reflects on the year, giving some insight into the academy’s future plans for 2019 and beyond.
What’s on offer at the academy?
Here at Baumit, one of our key drivers is to make beautiful, healthy homes for people to live in. Whether that is striking exteriors or interiors, we provide solutions that ensure buildings are made to last.
This philosophy, to give relevant tradespeople the opportunity to create better spaces for their clients, is at the heart of our on-site, purpose-built training academy based at Baumit HQ Aylesford, Kent. Yet, the other element of our academy is, of course, to enable companies to add another area of expertise to their business. Not only are companies providing their customers with the most reliable and advanced EWI solutions on the market, they are widening their individual skillsets, adding vital strings to their bow.
As such, the 62 people who have walked through Baumit’s doors to complete either a bronze, silver or gold course have gone on to significantly improve their offerings. Those who finished the bronze course have expanded their practical and theoretical rendering knowledge and plan on returning to participate in the silver course to become a Baumit-approved installer. For those who have become Baumit-certified, on completion of the gold course, they are now looking to work with us in the future as Baumit-approved partners.
We have developed these courses to reflect the industry’s evolving diversity. Our programme range is designed to meet everyone’s criteria; whether you are starting out in EWI or want to grow and develop your business to work with one of the largest EWI manufacturers in the world. These site-based scenarios provide hands-on, ‘real-life experience’ in dealing with regular challenges faced by installers.
What’s next for the academy?
Looking into the future of Baumit’s training academy, there are plenty of exciting prospects emerging on our horizons.
First and foremost, we wish to build on the great foundations we have laid, as the training academy has been an even greater success than we initially hoped.
In its current form, the academy is at the stage it needs to be; everyone who participates in the courses comments on how their experiences are unlike any other programmes they have completed, and are extremely impressed with the course content. We invested a huge amount of time refining the course structure, so we hope to continue in this strain to ensure we create the best learning environment for our participants.
In terms of the future, we hope to continue to attract new people to the course, where another key focus will be on previous applicants and people in associated trades. We have plans to widen our pool of interest, encouraging the latter to apply to the silver or gold course to become future partners and give clients the most supreme EWI solutions on the market.
Another larger ambition is to get the course into colleges, to define a new generation of tradespeople using Baumit’s application and products. Although this will take some time and investment, one day we hope to teach students a new way to hone their skills, inspiring future generations of EWI installers.
Lastly, we have to give attention where it is due to course leader Chris Kendall, Field Engineer at Baumit. With 30 years experience working as a contractor, Chris has been at Baumit since March 2017 and is a crucial part of the training academy. His expertise, experience, and constructive teaching techniques are second to none, where his involvement has been hugely instrumental in the current success of the training academy.
This year has been fantastic for the Baumit Training Academy. We have developed and grown as an educational hub and are glad to be offering some of the best EWI courses in the UK, which will hopefully continue to be a success throughout 2019 and well into the future.
For more information on Baumit Training Academy see: Baumit Training Academy