Construction students get up close and personal with Encon

Students with the largest provider of construction training in the East Midlands are getting a little help with their studies from specialist distributor Encon Insulation.

Pictured from left: Plastering technician Laura Miles, construction technician Callum Thurman, Encon’s John Collins, workshop labourer John-Paul Wrenn and plastering lecturer/team leader Daren Yeatman.

The company has supplied some 80 first and second-year students at New College Nottingham’s Academy of Construction, Basford Hall, with workwear and building materials such as plasterboard, bonding bags, industrial pipe sections, and ceiling tiles and grids.

The venture was the brainchild of John Collins, operations manager at Encon’s Nottingham branch, just a few miles from Basford Hall. He was looking for a way to get Encon more involved in the local community and immediately thought of the nearby college. He approached them to see if they would be interested in receiving support through free materials and workwear, and needless to say, they were!

Basford Hall construction technician Callum Thurman said: “We’re extremely grateful to Encon for this generous donation. It’s a fantastic example of the construction community giving something back to the next generation. It means a lot to staff and students when companies come along and lend a hand in this way. Basford Hall is a real community college and it’s great to know that we have the support of local businesses like Encon.”

The building materials and Encon-branded workwear of bodywarmers, fleeces and high-vis jackets and polo shirts will be split between 60 full-time students taking their Diploma Level 1 in plastering and maintenance and 20 part-time NVQ Level 1 and 2 students.

The donated materials will be supplied to Basford Hall on an on-going basis and are expected to see the students through their move to a new £27million campus, which is being built around the existing 1960s one, in September 2015. Encon are also supplying the new-build project with materials through their customer base of specialist sub-contractors.

Encon’s John Collins said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to help local construction trainees and do our bit to invest in the future of the construction industry. Basford Hall, being the college’s academy of construction, reflects the values of our own training academy, and our philosophy of being not just an employer of choice but the distributor of choice.”

As well as plastering and maintenance operations, the specialist workshops there include facilities for bricklaying, painting and decorating, carpentry and joinery, tiling, interior fitting and finishing, and construction plant operations.

ENDS

Pictured from left: Plastering technician Laura Miles, construction technician Callum Thurman, Encon’s John Collins, workshop labourer John-Paul Wrenn and plastering lecturer/team leader Daren Yeatman.