LCL Awards works with Darren Robson to create exciting new gas training facility in Aldershot
25 Jul 2024
Darren Robson is a freelance Gas Education Consultant. He’s been working for Farnborough College of Technology, setting up a gas training centre as part of the college’s construction academy on its Aldershot campus. Darren has had many years’ experience in the gas sector and has helped several other training centres in the past, but this one, he says, is a bit different.
“The college has invested a lot of time and money in building a brand-new training centre for gas. The idea was to create training facilities that felt as close to real-life as possible and it’s very impressive. As we’re part of the construction academy, we were able to call on experts in all the trades to make what we’d planned a reality. If we needed a chimney built, we had bricklayers on hand to help us do that! The support we’ve had from all the staff here has been amazing and it’s great to see how what we’ve achieved has energised trainers and learners alike.
“We’ve built a series of numbered bays with various scenarios. No two are the same, so in each one the configuration is different. We’ve used equipment from a range of manufacturers; the pipework, the joints, the faults are all different, so learners get a real sense of what it’s like to turn up at someone’s house, where nothing is standard.
“Lots of training centres rely a lot on imagination, with plain wooden walls and pretend windows. Here, it’s all real. The set-up is the best I’ve ever seen and the facilities second to none. The college was determined to improve the quality of its gas training and having gone to all this trouble, decided to run LCL Awards Managed Learning Programme and ACS qualifications to back their facilities up with high-quality qualifications and high-quality support.”
Darren has been working with our Operations Director Neill Ovenden and EV Dave Manison in moving through the approval process, which the college has recently completed.
“Neill and Dave couldn’t have done more to help us achieve high standards in training and have worked closely with us to ensure we can offer learners the best start in their career.. They share my passion for the sector and a sense that learning should be fun as well as serious.
“In recent years there’s been a decline in the quality of gas training in the UK, brought about, I think, by the panic to train up sufficient numbers of engineers to fit smart meters. There was a huge pressure to get people trained and lots of training centres capitalised on this by offering so called ‘fast-track’ courses that really weren’t up to the job.
“Learning to be a decent gas installer takes time and this rush for candidates has done a lot of damage. Colleges like this and companies like LCL Awards are helping redress the balance, as IGEM has been working to improve standards the quality of education. We’re focussing on producing the next generation of engineers who will have the confidence as well as the competence they need to see us through.”
Dave Manison, the LCL Awards EV who supported Darren and the college through their approval process, is very impressed with the training area, which he describes as being amongst the best he’s ever seen. He said:
“The unique practical provisions at Aldershot Gas Centre have been developed to a very high standard. The Centre has included a variety of pipework materials and sizes to challenge candidates when completing pipe-sizing and purging activities.
The Centre has worked hard to source a diverse range of appliances for candidates to develop and demonstrate their skills and knowledge of, and candidates will benefit from receiving training across the breadth and depth of a well-planned domestic gas Managed Learning Programme.”
Darren Robson is a freelance Gas Education Consultant. He’s been working for Farnborough College of Technology, setting up a gas training centre as part of the college’s construction academy on its Aldershot campus. Darren has had many years’ experience in the gas sector and has helped several other training centres in the past, but this one, he says, is a bit different.
“The college has invested a lot of time and money in building a brand-new training centre for gas. The idea was to create training facilities that felt as close to real-life as possible and it’s very impressive. As we’re part of the construction academy, we were able to call on experts in all the trades to make what we’d planned a reality. If we needed a chimney built, we had bricklayers on hand to help us do that! The support we’ve had from all the staff here has been amazing and it’s great to see how what we’ve achieved has energised trainers and learners alike.
“We’ve built a series of numbered bays with various scenarios. No two are the same, so in each one the configuration is different. We’ve used equipment from a range of manufacturers; the pipework, the joints, the faults are all different, so learners get a real sense of what it’s like to turn up at someone’s house, where nothing is standard.
“Lots of training centres rely a lot on imagination, with plain wooden walls and pretend windows. Here, it’s all real. The set-up is the best I’ve ever seen and the facilities second to none. The college was determined to improve the quality of its gas training and having gone to all this trouble, decided to run LCL Awards Managed Learning Programme and ACS qualifications to back their facilities up with high-quality qualifications and high-quality support.”
Darren has been working with our Operations Director Neill Ovenden and EV Dave Manison in moving through the approval process, which the college has recently completed.
“Neill and Dave couldn’t have done more to help us achieve high standards in training and have worked closely with us to ensure we can offer learners the best start in their career.. They share my passion for the sector and a sense that learning should be fun as well as serious.
“In recent years there’s been a decline in the quality of gas training in the UK, brought about, I think, by the panic to train up sufficient numbers of engineers to fit smart meters. There was a huge pressure to get people trained and lots of training centres capitalised on this by offering so called ‘fast-track’ courses that really weren’t up to the job.
“Learning to be a decent gas installer takes time and this rush for candidates has done a lot of damage. Colleges like this and companies like LCL Awards are helping redress the balance, as IGEM has been working to improve standards the quality of education. We’re focussing on producing the next generation of engineers who will have the confidence as well as the competence they need to see us through.”
Dave Manison, the LCL Awards EV who supported Darren and the college through their approval process, is very impressed with the training area, which he describes as being amongst the best he’s ever seen. He said:
“The unique practical provisions at Aldershot Gas Centre have been developed to a very high standard. The Centre has included a variety of pipework materials and sizes to challenge candidates when completing pipe-sizing and purging activities.
The Centre has worked hard to source a diverse range of appliances for candidates to develop and demonstrate their skills and knowledge of, and candidates will benefit from receiving training across the breadth and depth of a well-planned domestic gas Managed Learning Programme.”