The visit to the Westdale Training Academy was delivered in two areas. Firstly, presentations were delivered by Citizen Housing, Coventry College and Westdale Midlands Ltd. These gave an insightful look at how by working collaboratively, we’ve brought unemployed people into our Training Academy and taught them how to apply external wall insulation.
We’re proud of what we have created and, as a result of the Westdale Training Academy, 20 previously unemployed people are now in full-time employment. By the close of Wave 2 in March 2025, we are working towards (and are confident we will achieve) and total number of 50 new staff in our workforce as a result of our training academy.
Following the presentations, our visitors got into site clothes and PPC so they could participate in applying some Artbrick in our practical training area. As ever, we were delighted by our visitor’s enthusiasm to have a go, and some of those attending could have a new career in waiting!
The visit also allowed us to launch our Competency Certification Training, which will enable those going through our training to have a recognised accreditation for installing external wall insulation (EWI). This course has been developed by Exeter University to ensure the industry can meet the challenges of being PAS2035 compliant and having a workforce fit for the task of delivering retrofit of homes at scale.
The training facility personifies what can be achieved when project certainty spans over several financial years. We’re taking unemployed people from around the Coventry area and providing them with an opportunity to bring fresh skills and talent into the industry, and assisting future work streams to be met with the capacity to deliver.
We’re hopeful these numbers will grow to over 120 new jobs following successful delivery of Wave 3 projects starting in 2025.
