A.C. Whyte recently attended the Insulated Render and Cladding Association (INCA) Awards at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham and are delighted to be announced the winner of the prestigious Training Award for their Energy Efficiency Skills Academy in partnership with West College Scotland and South Lanarkshire College.

The Training Award recognised and highly commended the A.C. Whyte Skills Academy, where both the A.C. Whyte team and West College Scotland and South Lanarkshire College teams worked closely to create a unique industry led initiative. This model is designed to specifically meet the needs of the business and construction industry, where we require to develop a sustainable future workforce in the face of a vast skills shortage in the external wall insulation industry. This will go on to help deliver Scotland’s ambitious yet achievable energy efficiency targets and will evolve to meet the needs of the Local Authority areas, in which the course operates.

Steven McNellis, Construction Director of A.C. Whyte proudly accepted the award on the evening, on behalf of their respective teams. He said:

We are delighted with this award, it recognises what can be achieved through partnership working. Since its launch, the Skills Academy has attracted significant attention not simply because it aligns with key Government objectives, or even the fact that it is completely unique, but because it’s a bold, innovative and successful approach to fulfilling future skills needs.

Steven also commented:

Attracting talent with the promise of training, development and career opportunities is the first step to achieving these ambitious targets.  We have the chance to grow an entire new generation of skilled operatives who will take the country into an energy efficient future, with boundless opportunities to excel in a thriving, evolving industry.

The A.C. Whyte Skills Academy has provided their diverse group of students, or Akademos, as they are known, with a formal qualification as well as the relevant knowledge and skills to allow them to graduate to professional A.C. Whyte external wall insulation installers, on successful completion of the course.

The course is carefully planned to allow Akademos, to experience a blend of practical training within the purpose built training facilities in Greenock and East Kilbride, as well as in a real live site environment, under the expert supervision of some of A.C. Whyte’s’ most experienced operatives. On successful completion of the course, the Akademos will be offered full-time, permanent jobs with A.C. Whyte, making this proposition completely unique and a first of its kind.