HEAT Ltd
HEAT (Heat, Energy and Associated Technology) specialises in the design, installation and maintenance of central heating for social housing and has been successful in filling skills gap for its European recruitment policy and its apprentice training programme (ATP).
The skills gap is the major challenge facing the construction industry. In the
heating industry, there have been far-reaching changes with the use of high efficiency boilers and renewable energy technologies. The traditional approach of training a young person in one discipline only is no longer relevant, as the market requires apprentices to have knowledge of electricity, gas and plumbing.
To meet its immediate requirement for suitably skilled staff to counteract the impact the skills shortage was having on the delivery of its core services, HEAT devised a strategy to recruit skilled labour from EU countries, and particularly the Czech Republic and develop an apprentice training programme to produce a central heating engineer skilled in plumbing, electrics and gas.
The strategy saw over 150 school leavers visiting the HEAT apprentice evening, ensuring it began the ATP with students of a higher calibre than before, typically motivated bright individuals, focused on their chosen trade and prepared to learn.