A new Community Engagement Award for 2025
28 Apr 2025
In entering our Awards last year, a number of centres put forward initiatives designed to reach out to groups within their local communities.
We, and our panel of judges, were so thrilled to hear about the imaginative ways LCL Awards centres are encouraging different groups of people to take up training in building services, that we’ve introduced a new award this year: The Community Engagement Award.
Many LCL Awards centres do amazing things to support their local communities, here’s just some of examples that inspired our new category:
Gas Certification Company (Gas Cert), in Balantyre, near Glasgow was shortlisted for the Innovation Award last year.
Andrew McNab and his team have set up a partnership with schools through the Education Academy Scotland and South Lanarkshire Council, to assist young learners with STEM subjects. The aim being to encourage school leavers to take up careers in engineering and renewables. They invite pupils who are in the process of selecting their high-school subjects to open days where they can learn more about careers in building services and engineering - and what Gas Cert and local colleges have to offer in terms of training and apprenticeships. The centre’s manager and gas trainer, Joanne Kelly explains:
“In Gas Safety Week last year, we closed the centre to our normal courses and used the space to run a series of workshops designed to inspire kids. At the end of the week, we held our own careers day, where we invited local employers to come and talk to them. It was a great success.
“The trick is to make engineering more available to everyone. Traditionally it’s seen as a male oriented industry, but things are changing. Andy and I often go and give talks in schools and the fact that a woman is standing there and telling them how great it is to work as an engineer has an impact. You can see the girls’ faces light up!”
In addition to this Andrew is working on a scheme to help kids who are struggling with maths and exploring the idea of a scholarship that will support pupils in making the step up from school to work or an apprenticeship. Andy is passionate about this initiative, determined to make it work:
“The new Ignite Scholarship Scheme, for which I’m currently seeking funding, gives maths a practical application which helps those who don’t flourish in a classroom environment a better understanding of the relevance of maths to everyday life.
“Seeing the enthusiasm of these youngsters when you let them get their hands on the equipment and work together solving problems is such a reward, and I’m thrilled that LCL Awards sees value in the work we are doing to bring on the next generation of engineers.”
At the other end of the country, Business Edge in Waterlooville, outside Portsmouth, was a runner-up for our Inclusivity Award last year. The company specialises in Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Heat Pump (RACHP) courses.
The company’s robust Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, and a variety of measures to accommodate and support all learners earnt Business Edge LCL Awards’ Inclusivity Charter status in June 2022, but it was their ‘Ladies Day’ initiative, run in conjunction with the IOR (Institute of Refrigeration), to encourage more women into the trades that particularly impressed us last year. Rachael Creamer, explains the thoughts behind the project:
“There’s still a disappointingly low number of women attending our practical and theoretical training courses to equip them with the essential skills for RACHP design, installation, service, and repair work opportunities. This is a frequent topic of conversation at Business Edge!
“Our aim is to encourage more women into the industry and for them to consider alternative roles. For the last couple of years, we have worked in conjunction with the IOR to hold Ladies Day, a female-only event to provide women with an open forum and the opportunity to try out the some of the skills involved in RACHP. We offer them a series of taster sessions where they can practice tasks such as brazing. The events have been well attended and well received, and we plan to build on the enthusiasm we’ve encountered year on year.
“Although progress feels slow, it’s a question of making women feel empowered – and welcome. And the small details count – at Business Edge, you’ll find brazing gloves and goggles are available in all sizes!”
If you and your centre have set up an initiative to bring in members of your local community, we’d love to hear about it – and would encourage you to enter our Community Engagement category this year. Full details of the criteria and an entry form can be found here. We look forward to hearing from you – and good luck!
LCL Awards category list 2025
We have seven categories this year! Remember, you can enter as many categories as you like and we strongly encourage you to provide any relevant documents, photos/videos and/or testimonials to support your application. Here are the Awards that are up for grabs:
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In entering our Awards last year, a number of centres put forward initiatives designed to reach out to groups within their local communities.
We, and our panel of judges, were so thrilled to hear about the imaginative ways LCL Awards centres are encouraging different groups of people to take up training in building services, that we’ve introduced a new award this year: The Community Engagement Award.
Many LCL Awards centres do amazing things to support their local communities, here’s just some of examples that inspired our new category:
Gas Certification Company (Gas Cert), in Balantyre, near Glasgow was shortlisted for the Innovation Award last year.
Andrew McNab and his team have set up a partnership with schools through the Education Academy Scotland and South Lanarkshire Council, to assist young learners with STEM subjects. The aim being to encourage school leavers to take up careers in engineering and renewables. They invite pupils who are in the process of selecting their high-school subjects to open days where they can learn more about careers in building services and engineering - and what Gas Cert and local colleges have to offer in terms of training and apprenticeships. The centre’s manager and gas trainer, Joanne Kelly explains:
“In Gas Safety Week last year, we closed the centre to our normal courses and used the space to run a series of workshops designed to inspire kids. At the end of the week, we held our own careers day, where we invited local employers to come and talk to them. It was a great success.
“The trick is to make engineering more available to everyone. Traditionally it’s seen as a male oriented industry, but things are changing. Andy and I often go and give talks in schools and the fact that a woman is standing there and telling them how great it is to work as an engineer has an impact. You can see the girls’ faces light up!”
In addition to this Andrew is working on a scheme to help kids who are struggling with maths and exploring the idea of a scholarship that will support pupils in making the step up from school to work or an apprenticeship. Andy is passionate about this initiative, determined to make it work:
“The new Ignite Scholarship Scheme, for which I’m currently seeking funding, gives maths a practical application which helps those who don’t flourish in a classroom environment a better understanding of the relevance of maths to everyday life.
“Seeing the enthusiasm of these youngsters when you let them get their hands on the equipment and work together solving problems is such a reward, and I’m thrilled that LCL Awards sees value in the work we are doing to bring on the next generation of engineers.”
At the other end of the country, Business Edge in Waterlooville, outside Portsmouth, was a runner-up for our Inclusivity Award last year. The company specialises in Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Heat Pump (RACHP) courses.
The company’s robust Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, and a variety of measures to accommodate and support all learners earnt Business Edge LCL Awards’ Inclusivity Charter status in June 2022, but it was their ‘Ladies Day’ initiative, run in conjunction with the IOR (Institute of Refrigeration), to encourage more women into the trades that particularly impressed us last year. Rachael Creamer, explains the thoughts behind the project:
“There’s still a disappointingly low number of women attending our practical and theoretical training courses to equip them with the essential skills for RACHP design, installation, service, and repair work opportunities. This is a frequent topic of conversation at Business Edge!
“Our aim is to encourage more women into the industry and for them to consider alternative roles. For the last couple of years, we have worked in conjunction with the IOR to hold Ladies Day, a female-only event to provide women with an open forum and the opportunity to try out the some of the skills involved in RACHP. We offer them a series of taster sessions where they can practice tasks such as brazing. The events have been well attended and well received, and we plan to build on the enthusiasm we’ve encountered year on year.
“Although progress feels slow, it’s a question of making women feel empowered – and welcome. And the small details count – at Business Edge, you’ll find brazing gloves and goggles are available in all sizes!”
If you and your centre have set up an initiative to bring in members of your local community, we’d love to hear about it – and would encourage you to enter our Community Engagement category this year. Full details of the criteria and an entry form can be found here. We look forward to hearing from you – and good luck!
LCL Awards category list 2025
We have seven categories this year! Remember, you can enter as many categories as you like and we strongly encourage you to provide any relevant documents, photos/videos and/or testimonials to support your application. Here are the Awards that are up for grabs: